News

Tenby: Avenue Centre decision put on hold

Published

10 years ago

March 7, 2016

Tenby Avenue Centre: decision put on hold (Pic. Mike Hillen)

AFTER months of campaigning from carers, attendees and local residents, a decision on Tenby’s Avenue Centre is to be put on hold by Pembrokeshire County Council.

A report going before Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet next week recommends that no decision is to be taken for the time being on the future of the Social Activity Centre (SAC) in Tenby.

Popularly known as The Avenue, it is one of three Council centres for people with a learning disability. A petition to keep the centre open was presented to the council last month and had been signed by more than 2500 people, with 1300 people signing the petition online at change.org and over 1200 being on paper at various locations throughout the town and the surrounding area.

Its future has been under review and it has been at the centre of a much publicised 12-week consultation period with stakeholders, including customers, their families and carers.

In a report to the Authority’s Cabinet meeting next Monday (14th March), Director of Social Services and Leisure, Pam Marsden, says: “After a great deal of consideration and taking all of this feedback into account, it is considered premature to make any recommendation at this time with regards to the future of Tenby SAC.”

Her report continues: “In order to ensure that any future recommendation is fully informed, we will continue with our plan to have up-to-date assessments on all of our service users with a learning disability.

“We will also spend time in a range of meetings with service users/carers and stakeholders over the next few months agreeing service priorities and developing a shared vision.

“We plan to undertake a further consultation in the future which will involve all three centres and be in the context of a wider review of day opportunities across Pembrokeshire.

“At the end of this period, a report will be brought back to Cabinet setting out recommendations for the future provision of this service.”

County Councillor Simon Hancock, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Health and Well-Being and Equalities said: “I do hope that this will be recognised as the Council listening and that we can continue to work with our service users and their carers to agree the future of services within this very difficult financial climate.”

Related Topics:

Up Next

Mixed reaction to cancer treatment times

Don't Miss

Neyland: Missing youth found safe and well

2 Comments

John Hudson

March 8, 2016 at 8:18 am

As this centre has been given a temporary reprieve, does the Council’s 2016/17 budget, as recommended by Cabinet, require a small adjustment, if savings from an earlier closure date had been anticipated?

Budget reductions approved by Council for 2015/16, the current year are anticipated to be grossly underachieved to the tune of some £2,000,000.
( £1m Adult Social Services, £1m across other services) This has been largely attributed to delays in implementation. However, this will be rectified when Councillors approve the new Revised Budget for 2015/16 with the Budget for 2016/17.

The unachieved savings from last year are to be rolled over into next year, with the new additional savings to be approved for 2016/217.

Somehow these non achieved savings, nodded through by both Scrutiny Committees and Cabinet can be wrapped up within an approved Revised 2015/16 Budget envelope the same as the original approved Council 2015/16 budget. Its a good trick if you can continue to keep rolling up under achieved approved savings to be delivered in the next financial year..

Is there any effective financial control or scrutiny exercised by councillors in this Council?
becoming a campus security professional

January 5, 2026 at 7:34 pm

This is a topic I’ve been curious about. Thanks for the detailed information.

News

Hakin motorist banned after driving 14 times over drug limit

Published

1 hour ago

June 9, 2026

Sarah-Jane Absalom

A HAKIN motorist has been banned from driving for three years after being caught behind the wheel with cocaine and benzoylecgonine in his system.

Mark Briskham, 53, of Waterloo Square, Wellington Road, Hakin, was stopped by police on January 5 as he drove a Ford Kuga along Steynton Road, near Milford Haven.

Blood tests carried out at the police station showed he had 800mcg of benzoylecgonine in his system. The legal limit is 50mcg.

He also had 64mcg of cocaine in his system. The legal limit is 10mcg.

Briskham pleaded guilty to two drug-driving charges when he appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court this week.

Magistrates disqualified him from driving for three years, taking into account a previous drug-drive conviction from 2020.

He was also fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £48 surcharge.cr

Crime

Begelly man remanded over alleged May Day assault

Published

1 hour ago

June 9, 2026

Sarah-Jane Absalom

A PEMBROKESHIRE man has been remanded in custody following an alleged May Day assault against a woman in Begelly.

Tomas Baker, 34, of Ty Dee, New Road, Begelly, is accused of assaulting the woman, causing actual bodily harm, at an undisclosed location in Begelly on May 1.

Baker appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court this week by video link from Swansea Prison.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

His trial will take place at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on June 22.

Crime

Waterston man denies child rape and sexual assault charges

Published

2 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Tom Sinclair

A WATERSTON man has appeared before magistrates charged with 13 sexual offences against children, including three allegations of raping a girl under the age of 13.

Chaisee Price, 25, of Biggins Hill, Waterston, Milford Haven, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court this week.

He faces three charges of raping a girl under 13, eight charges of sexually assaulting girls aged between five and eight, and two charges of intentionally inciting girls under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2014 and 2019.

Price denied all charges.

Because of the seriousness of the allegations, magistrates declined jurisdiction and the case will now proceed to Swansea Crown Court on July 10.

Price was released on conditional bail.

The conditions include a daily electronically monitored curfew between 6:00pm and 6:00am, no contact with the prosecution witness, no unsupervised contact with children under 18, and a requirement to surrender his passport to police.