A call to relocate Tenby Town Council’s office to a vacant café to improve access and allow a community hub and banking service to be created has been lodged with National Park planners.

In an application submitted to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, the Town Council seeks permission for a change of use of the vacant café to allow for the relocation of offices from their current location off the entrance corridor of the main De Valence Pavilion building on Upper Frog Street, to increase service provision through a community information hub.

The application also seeks permission to install a ‘One Banx’ machine in association with an – as yet unnamed – national building society to provide access to cash deposit and withdrawal services across all banks who are part of the Open Banking Network.

In a supporting statement, TTC says the new offices “will enable Tenby Town Council to provide office space that is more inclusive; it will be spacious, well-lit and step free, with wide access doors, ensuring people with mobility issues, visual impairment, cognitive challenges and other disabilities find the premises physically accessible,” as well as being visible and directly accessed from Upper Frog Street, in Tenby’s town centre; people with visual impairment no longer needing to navigate through the De Valence Pavilion’s corridor in order to locate the office.

It adds: “The present location of the office space, along a corridor inside the building with no natural light, a narrow door and very little space, makes it likely that most local residents and other potential visitors would avoid making an in-person visit unless they have good reason or are already regular visitors. There is no satisfactory way of addressing these barriers to accessibility in the present office location.

“Tenby Town Council is committed to providing an accessible, welcoming and equitable space for everyone as far as we can, and our new office is designed, and will be run, with this intention. While we appreciate there will always be space for improvements, we will continue to learn, adapt and improve the accessibility and quality of our office and public interactions in the future.”

Tenby’s town clerk Andrew Davies had told the Observer earlier this year that discussions involving town councillors and representatives from the De Valence CIC trust had taken place behind closed doors, due to the ‘disclosure of commercially sensitive information’.

“The council have been working closely with social and commercial partners to provide a multi-purpose Community Hub that will benefit both residents and visitors to Tenby,” he commented.

The De Valence cafe has been officially unoccupied since a Caribbean eatery left the premises in 2023, although the outgoing owner of the Indie Burger restaurant a little further down the street aimed a broadside at the Town Council and those running the De Valence before the turn of the year after plans to take over the premises were scuppered, after a ‘13th hour’ breakdown in the agreement.

The application will be considered by National Park planners at a later date.