Local councillors have said that they will play the ‘waiting’ game to see if aspects of a scheme that has been introduced to improve road and pedestrian safety on the main junction into Tenby succeed.

The Pembrokeshire County Council scheme, which has seen the introduction of a mini roundabout on the A4218/A478 Narberth Road, as part of a revised layout to improve the junction, was completed before the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, after 12 weeks of work, which saw large traffic delays daily in and out of the resort during that period.

The development had also seen the junction at Upper Hill Park with Narberth Road remain closed to traffic to make it safer whilst works were carried out.

A report from PCC’s senior traffic engineer, Ben Blake, outlined that the scheme would look to improve road and pedestrian safety on the road by way of providing a more conventional and simplified layout, and address traffic flow issues, turning movements, as well as introducing speed reduction benefits.

Funding was secured by the county council to remodel a section of the road, as the second phase of a Welsh Government funded Road Safety Grant scheme, but local councillors have questioned where the new bus stop has been sited on the route out of the town.

“I’m amazed at the positioning of the bus stop - why oh why is it not further up?” Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter told her colleagues at a meeting of the town council last week.

“It will cause even more hold ups. I can’t believe PCC and their planning!” she added.

The Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall agreed that it was ‘something of a concern’ that hopefully PCC would look at and monitor.

“Maybe further works will be required if it doesn’t work...preferably without the need for temporary traffic lights!” he remarked.

A spokesperson for the county council said that the bus stop plans had been ‘safety audited’ ahead of the scheme.

“This has been considered during the design process, it has been designed so that vehicles do not pass the bus,” they explained.

“There may be an element of delay during bus stopping, we will monitor the arrangement. The plans have been safety audited and this has not been highlighted as a risk/hazard at this stage,” added the spokesperson.

Clr. Mrs. Rossiter told the Observer that she could see the reasoning behind the county council’s explanation, but felt that the bus stop would have been better positioned further up the road, where the temporary stop had been situated opposite the ‘welcome to Tenby’ sign whilst the works were taking place.

“This has been such a contentious issue, especially with the residents who have been affected whose entrances come out onto that road, so we will just have to wait and see if the new bus stop causes any problems,” she added.