Mayor and councillors say recent events have caused concern among residents, businesses and visitors

TENBY TOWN COUNCIL has called for a stronger visible police presence in the town following a series of incidents involving groups of youths, including disorder, criminal damage and a serious assault.

In a statement issued on Wednesday (Apr 8), the council said the mayor and town councillors were aware of recent incidents and expressed their sympathy with those affected.

The statement comes after Tuesday night’s major incident at Tenby railway station, where four youths suffered stab wounds during serious disorder. Two people – a 16-year-old youth and a 19-year-old man – have been arrested on suspicion of Section 18 assault, while British Transport Police are leading the investigation.

The council said its thoughts were with those affected and wished the injured a full and speedy recovery.

Members also voiced support for Dyfed-Powys Police and all emergency services involved in the response, thanking them for their swift action. The council urged anyone with information to come forward so those responsible can be held to account.

In the statement, the council said that while Tenby remains a welcoming, close-knit and safe community, the events of recent days had understandably caused concern among residents, businesses and visitors alike.

Councillors added that the behaviour did not reflect the values of the town or the overwhelming majority of its young people.

The council said it believes Tenby needs more visible policing, particularly during busy periods, both to reassure the public and to act as a deterrent to further incidents.

It added that it would continue working closely with the police, Pembrokeshire County Council and other partner agencies to address the issues and support longer-term solutions.

The statement concluded by saying Tenby thrives on being a safe and friendly place for everyone, and that the council remains committed to doing everything within its remit to protect that reputation and ensure residents and visitors feel secure in the town.

FOOD hygiene checks have not been carried out in parts of a Welsh county since 2019 due an inspection backlog, a council has admitted.

Carmarthenshire council said its struggle to recruit food safety officers means hygiene inspections are currently overdue at three high-risk food premises in the county, with hundreds more lower risk food sellers also behind on checks.

Councillor Colin Evans told a scrutiny committee meeting he felt the situation was “quite serious”, adding: “Should something go wrong, it could go wrong very quickly.”

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said councils were making progress on checks despite increased workloads and a UK-wide need to train more inspectors.

The council was told last month it probably would not meet its hygiene checks and interventions for high-risk food businesses.

Despite offering £60 to £70 per hour to recruit qualified staff through agencies, the council said recruitment remained difficult.

Ian Jones, the council’s head of leisure and public protection, said despite a lot of professionalism and expertise within the service it was “highly unlikely” the end-of-year targets would be met.

Councillors were told other authorities were in a similar position and the committee referred the matter to cabinet for consideration.

No checks for seven years

Food premises are checked based on risk categories ranging from A to E, with A, B and C considered high risk due to food handling.

The council said there were three highest-risk category A premises with overdue hygiene inspections in the county – two of them within a 28-day overdue period, and the third subject to an “ongoing presence from inspectors” since the previous intervention.

There were also two category B premises and 228 category C premises with overdue inspections, and 467 overdue hygiene inspections for category D and E establishments.

The council said inspection frequencies depended on the risk category but varied between “at least every six months to at least every 36 months”.

But a council website showing food ratings suggests no food hygiene inspections have been done at some premises in the north of the county in seven years.

The council said inspectors carried out other work, such as food standards and hygiene visits.

It said the average backlog was 16 months for category C premises, 35 months for category D and 38 months for category E.

And it said 405 of the 467 category D and E premises with an overdue inspection were eligible to do a self-assessment questionnaire.

The council said it had a statutory duty to enforce food law “as effectively as possible, using means that are most appropriate to the circumstances”.

The hospitality trade body UK Hospitality said despite pressure on the sector in recent years, “the safety of our customers remains non-negotiable and food hygiene is a major focus for businesses – alongside work on allergens and food crime”.

The FSA’s head of delivery Sarah Aza said last month the agency was liaising with governments and others to increase the inspection workforce.

She said councils were making good progress on food safety and standards checks but a rise in new businesses was increasing the workload.

“If a local authority is concerned about meeting its legal inspection duties, we ask them to get in touch with us early,” she said.

Report by Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Council says safety repairs remain on programme but traffic lights will stay in place as major bridge scheme moves into next phase

TRAFFIC delays on the busy road between Neyland and Burton are set to continue into late April, with Pembrokeshire County Council confirming that ongoing bridge repairs are still underway and unlikely to finish before the end of the month.

The update came after The Herald asked for clarification following concerns from a reader about the pace of the work and whether the original target of completion by the second week of April would be met.

In response, the council said the works now underway are essential safety repairs to replace the bridge’s original parapet railings, which are more than 50 years old.

Officials said the parapet replacement is expected to be completed in the week commencing Monday (Apr 20). After that, contractors will begin replacing the bridge surfacing, which is expected to take around a week and will also require traffic management.

The final stage of the project will involve replacing the bridge movement joints. Those works are due to be carried out at night and, according to the council, will not require daytime traffic management.

Pembrokeshire County Council said the current lane closure and traffic lights are necessary to protect workers on site, adding that the only alternative would have been a full road closure.

The authority said that while a closure might have shortened the scheme by a few weeks, it would have caused greater disruption overall and risked damage to diversion routes.

The council also explained that the job is more complicated than a routine bridge repair because the parapet plinths are around 100mm narrower than modern standards. That has meant a special parapet railing system has been needed, with only one accredited supplier in the UK able to provide it.

The supplier, the council said, has committed all available resources to the scheme, but site constraints and the required sequence of works mean each side of the bridge takes several weeks to complete.

It also said there are very few trained and accredited operatives able to carry out the specialist work, meaning night-time, 24-hour or weekend working was not possible.

On the issue of delays, the council said the traffic lights are manually controlled on working days between 7:00am and 6:00pm, with contractors instructed to adjust timings at peak periods to improve traffic flow where possible.

However, with the A477 carrying more than 13,000 vehicles a day, the council acknowledged that delays at busy times are unavoidable.

A spokesperson said: “We fully understand that having traffic lights on the highway network is inconvenient and frustrating for road users and apologise for the delays experienced.”

The council added that, despite the extremely wet weather this year, the scheme remains on programme.