Remedial works to rectify the poor condition of Tenby’s South Parade are due to begin this month.

Tenby town council and members of the public have long called for improvement works along the route, especially since the felling of the red horse chestnut trees along the South Parade back in the summer of 2017.

Chair of Tenby in Bloom and former Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane reiterated in recent months that Pembrokeshire County Council needed to act on the poor condition of the walkways which sit alongside the historical town walls.

“It’s sad that PCC still think that it is acceptable to have the paving along there filled with grit and dust!” she remarked.

“When the flower pots are taken away for the season, it leaves a huge danger along that walkway the way it is left.

“It’s horrific to still leave it looking like that after all this time. It’s an absolute disgrace, and I don’t think any other town would have to put up with it,” added Clr. Mrs. Lane.

The dangers of the walkway were highlighted recently when former Mayor and councillor, Mrs. Caroline Thomas fell along the Parade last month, and had to be admitted to hospital.

“The Parade cobbles are very uneven and I would like to think that PCC could look carefully at the state of that area,” she said.

“There is a lot of something green and slippery there. I would hate for anyone else to go through what I have experienced.

“I was very lucky that my fall was seen by people who rushed to help, and after a paramedic’s advice I spent 8 hours in A&E,” added Mrs. Thomas.

In correspondence sent to Pembrokeshire County Council’s cabinet member for infrastructure, Clr. Phil Baker, and the Authority’s head of highways and construction, Darren Thomas, it was reiterated by Clr. Mike Evans that the town council had highlighted on numerous occasions, the need for the South Parade area to be prioritised for essential repairs and resurfacing.

Clr. Evans said that he too had reported seeing people tripping and falling over on the Parade, and asked for PCC to act as a matter of urgency on this matter, to ensure that the area is made safe before any more avoidable accidents occur.

A response from PCC’s highways asset manager Robert Evans said that although the area of the South Parade affected by the redundant tree planters was inspected last month, apart from erosion of the dust and gravel in the tree pits, it was not seen to have significantly deteriorated since the last detailed inspection before Christmas.

“The original intention was that remedial work on the tree pits in the vicinity of the planned bus stop improvement South of the Five Arches would be addressed as part of that scheme, with re-paving of the remaining areas being addressed immediately afterwards, and this work had originally been programmed to start in early/mid-February but due to contractor resourcing issues will not now start until March 22,” explained Mr. Evans.

“This part of the works will be carried out by Evan Pritchard (Contractors) Ltd.

“In the meantime our Engineering Works team will start remedial work on the tree planters North of the Five Arches as soon as the necessary materials can be delivered, which is likely to be March 8.

“The work will involve removing the tree pits, the planter surrounds and any locally deformed areas of paving and replacing them using a combination of old and new paviors to match existing as closely as possible.

“The accumulation of algae in some areas which may have contributed to the recent fall was not observed during earlier inspections but has now been referred to the Environmental Services team for treatment,” he added.

A recent public engagement meeting hosted by the town council to discuss the enhancement of the iconic Five Arches, also took into account the historic town walls and South Parade.

The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sam Skyrme-Blackhall remarked that the aim of any proposed project should be about ‘enhancing, preserving and protecting’ the town walls, and that these were the three key things to concentrate on in getting something done.

Following discussions, Clr. Mike Evans said he had enjoyed listening to ideas and working a way forward, and asked that the town council and clerk start on a mission statement, to pick up on themes discussed at the meeting which were ‘protect, preserve and enhance’ and from there, councillors could develop aims and objectives going forward to meet that mission statement, for example to clear the Five Arches of weeds.

It may be the case that TTC could then tick off the aim of removing weeds after Cllr. Mrs. Lane’s announcement that Tenby in Bloom are prepared to pay for the second day of cleaning.

With Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown stating that the public wanted to see some action.

Clr. Mrs. Lane felt that while the town council should be working towards the preservation of all the town walls, perhaps any work should we be broken down into sections, so that they can aim at achieving one goal at a time.