The Mayor of Tenby has welcomed the fact that the town’s Tourist Information Centre has been granted a ‘stay of execution’ but has once again urged local businesses, tourist attractions and the public to come forward with ideas to save the facility’s future.

Members of Tenby town council recently met with Pembrokeshire County Council representatives to discuss the future of the facility which has been earmarked for closure, with PCC stating that ways of making the TIC ‘cost neutral’ need to be found if it is to be retained.

PCC’s head of procurement, Paul Ashley Jones explained that Cabinet had agreed to keep the TIC open until October while they investigated ways of retaining the facility with the town council and the Tenby tourism sector stakeholders.

He stated that PCC were looking at how the £45,000 staffing costs could be covered, and if a way could be found to make the TIC cost neutral to PCC then the service would be retained.

PCC were themselves looking at ways of supplementing the costs through the introduction of a catering facility selling teas, coffees etc. from May to provide a regular income stream and they were also considering a ‘left luggage’ facility.

Mr. Ashley-Jones stressed that the café facilities would be supplementary to the information service, and that PCC were not considering it to be a stand-alone cafe.

The idea would be that the TIC would be open from 10 am to 4 pm, six days a week until the end of September but proposals would be needed by the end of August if the service was to continue, and PCC could look at ways of ‘chipping away’ at the £45,000 costs but they could not do it alone and welcomed any ideas Tenby had.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, told her colleagues that she was very glad that the TIC had been given a stay of execution, but stated that people’s views and ideas on the facility’s future needed to be compiled to present to PCC before the end of the summer.

“We’re looking for ideas from the public and businesses in the area on how to generate more money for the facility, and welcome any suggestions,” she said.

“The likes of the LVA and Tenby Chamber of Trade and Tourism were invited to the previous meeting on the matter, but nobody from those organisations turned up.

“I did suggest that the ‘Hotels and Restaurants Association’ might look to reform too and get involved but that hasn’t materialised.

“I would like to invite local businesses who benefit from the TIC in Tenby, such as Kiln Park, Heatherton, Folly Farm, Manor House, Caldey Island etc, to the next meeting we hold on this at the end of Easter, to get them on board with their input,” she continued, with her colleague Clr. Mike Evans agreeing.

“Where are the local hotels, pubs and restaurants on this and the Chamber of Trade - there the ones that benefit from the Tourist Information Centre the most,” he said.

“We need a strategy, PCC’s strategy is to close the facility, but the ball is in this town’s court, and it is entirely up to us what we want to do with this building and service.

“The facility will close on October 1 as there is a shortfall of £45,000. So we have to decide where we make these costs up - do we want the facility open over seven days during the winter, do we want it open in January.

“We have a clean slate here, and it is up to us as a town when we decide to have it open, if nobody else is willing to help financially or in any other way,” continued Clr. Evans.

Clr. Laurence Blackhall said that although the facility had been given a stay of execution as such, it was a very limited measure, and something needed to be put in place urgently to retain the TIC’s future.

“We do need to get groups of people and businesses together on this, as £45,000 is a lot to cover, and we need to dig very deep into pockets for the facility to function. They will have to see an awful lot of cups of coffee to meet that financial target, but there is at least recognition that we need to retain the TIC, but how?

Clr. Blackhall said that people should be asking themselves the question that if they believe that it is important if the TIC was not there - then would you create it? But they needed to put investment in to keep it.

Clr. Viv Perry said that he 100 per cent supported the notion that a strategy is needed to move forward, as it would be ‘tragic’ to lose the facility.

“Not all visitors to Tenby like to go on the web to find out information about the area, they like the personal interaction,” he said, stating that the loss of expertise and knowledge that the staff bring at the facility would be great.

Despite suggestions that the TIC could be relocated in the town as an option, the Mayor along with councillors Tracey Evans and Sam Skyrme-Blackhall agreed that the current location of the facility was perfect.

“It was a positive meeting with PCC and hopefully we can find a way forward,” added Clr. Mrs. Evans.