Among matters discussed at the recent meeting of Pennar and Bufferland Community Association were the following:

The north shore of the Pembroke River in need of a serious clean-up!: A member asked if there were any plans afoot to recommence our earlier efforts to keep the beach along the north shore of the Pembroke River free of unsightly rubbish such as drinks cans/bottles, discarded household equipment, fishing gear etc? Some of this was washed ashore on the tide, but other being the work of fly tippers. Clr. Tony Wilcox said he would contact Maggie Thomas who previously organised the beach cleaning sessions, to see if the 'litter-pickers', refuse sack openers, gloves etc. were still available. Beach cleaning sessions were usually arranged for a Saturday morning coinciding with low water conditions. Tony added that the heavy cast iron post that was locked into position in the middle of Ferry Road was to deny the fly tippers vehicles access to the beach. This post had been stolen by metal thieves, so a plastic post has been put in its place, but whether this would deter the flytippers for very long was an open question.

More snippets about the preparations for the Pembroke Dock bicentenary: Clr. Maureen Colgan reported that it likely that the military tattoo that was to be held inside the defensible barracks would be transferred to the Pennar Robbins football ground at Bush Camp; however, it was hoped that some other event would be staged in Pennar's historic landmark. Maureen added that midday Wednesday, January 1, Pater Hall would be the venue for a get together, 'brunch' and a rousing sing along to get our bicentenary year of to a good start.

Some progress with filling in the pot holes in the Pembroke Dock roads: In reply to a member's query about the progress made in filling in the many potholes that had appeared in the town's roads since last winter, Clr. Tony Wilcox said that the broken up section of the service road going to the B&Q, Argos and Peacocks shopping area had recently been resurfaced, and the potholes along Treowen Road had been marked out in readiness for repair. Milton Terrace would also be receiving the attention of the road repair men.

Nelson Street residents suffer from some unruly, teenage behaviour: PCSO Andrew Griffiths reported on some misbehaviour by teenagers and children in and around Nelson Street. Eggs had been thrown at house windows and passing cars. Some of the culprits had been served with a youth caution!

Residents' plea to have their green amenity area reinstated: Katie Pyart produced a letter written on behalf of the residents of Castle and Grove Streets requesting that the green amenity area on the south side of Grove Street should be reinstated as a children's play area. Some years ago, the P&BCA approached the council for a plot of land at the west end of Grove Street to be set aside as a children's play area. The request was granted, and the play area established, but in recent years the facility has fallen into disuse and the grass has grown knee high, so over the past two years, the land has been used as a horse paddock. Clr. Tony Wilcox said that the responsibility for cutting the grass and keeping the area free of accumulating rubbish lay with the residents of Grove and Castle Streets; however, he would discuss the matter with Mr. Barry Cook (PCC estates manager) to see if the children's play area could be reinstated.

The long running saga of establishing a village green for local residents: When a member enquired about the progress made in establishing an area of grassland at the west end of Military Road as a town or village green; Clr. Tony Wilcox said he had been advised that the putative owners of the land would have had three months to appeal against the planning inspectors decision to declare the land to be a town or village green. He believed that this three-month period expired on September 9, but he would seek confirmation of this from PCC head of legal services.

A reduced speed limit for some of the most congested streets in Pennar?: Mike Cray suggested that safety considerations might be best served by reducing the speed limit along Grove and Castle Streets to 20 mph. Traffic calming measures such as 'sleeping policemen' or speed cushions were also discussed, but a member said that he had read that some high speed crashes on the motorway had been put down to vehicle wheel misalignment due to passing over these traffic calming measures.