Town councillors in Tenby have been asked to introduce a blanket ban on banners across the town promoting events in the area.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, the town clerk Mr. Andrew Davies said that his offices and Pembrokeshire County Council’s street care manager Marc Owen had started to get growing complaints about the volume of promotional and advertising banners and boards that were cropping up around the town, particularly on the railings by the Norton overlooking the North Beach which had been a popular spot to display such items.

“In the past PCC and the town council had tended to turn a blind eye to banners in this spot that promoted say a charity event or fundraising concert taking place in Tenby itself as such, if it went up a week before the event and came down the day after, but we’ve started to get growing complaints, and in particular from the residents of Paxton Court,” he explained.

Mr. Davies said that it had been pointed out that other business enterprises and promoters advertising events outside of Tenby now seemed to be taking advantage of the spot on the railings, and other areas of the town, which led to one banner being taken down recently by PCC officers, as it had gone up five or so weeks before the event.

He said that street care manager Mr. Owen said that for transparency, consistency and fairness to all, that no banners should be placed in such areas.

He explained that although it would be unfortunate for local charities that had been afforded this space - it was pointed out that it came down to an issue of flyposting, which was illegal. It was also stated that a proliferation of banners entering the area into Tenby’s centre could cause a distraction for drivers by the mini-roundabout.

Councillors pointed out that more and more banners had also crept in at others areas of the town, including the South Parade and in particular The Green.

“I took one down myself recently at the South Parade which had been left there well after the event and blown horizontal!” said the Deputy Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, whilst Clr. Laurence Blackhall said that he understood the difficulties with PCC wanting to be fair but the railings by The Green could now not be seen due to the volume of banners there.

The Mayor, Clr. Tony Brown said that it was difficult to argue as if PCC owned the railings then it was up to them any way whether they wanted the banners removed or not.

However, Clr. Paul Rapi disagreed and felt that the Authority were showing double standards, as they had failed to tackle the issue of advertising A-Frames blocking walkways across the streets of the town over the past few years, despite numerous complaints and the issue being highlighted by town councillors.

“I think its a load of drivel - if we want to allow a charity event to put their poster or banner up then we should be able to decide on merit,” he remarked.

“Why don’t PCC take the same stance on A-Frames then - there is no difference! They either sort both out or leave it alone.

“I think that if we came up with a policy on what we allow and don’t allow for promotional banners then we can put it to Mr. Owen,” added Clr. Rapi, with Clr. Mrs. Brown agreeing, stating that part of the policy should state that they only accept banners for Tenby based charities/events, that should only be erected a week before the event and taken down the day after.