Over 90 businesses in Tenby have signed a petition opposing the fact that Ironman Wales will be held earlier this year, with correspondence sent to Pembrokeshire County Council from traders questioning the ‘integrity’ of the local authority in making a decision without consultation.

The sporting triathlon, held in and around Tenby will officially go ahead on Sunday, September 3 this year, despite concerns raised by local councillors and businesses that this would impact on the end of the summer season, with those concerned questioning as to whether this would bring as much benefit to the local economy, by not holding the event beyond the summer holidays, effectively extending the season in the area.

Concerns have been flagged-up that much holiday accommodation will already have been booked up, leaving a large number of holidaymakers and Ironman competitors and their entourages unable to book anything in the last week of August.

Pembrokeshire County Council has previously stated that due to ‘available tides’ and ‘other factors’ the date subsequently settled on with the event’s organisers was September 3, with the local authority stating that this was the only date available in 2023.

Now in excess of 90 business and non-domestic rate payers largely located within the town walls of Tenby have written to PCC’s chief executive Will Bramble, asking why requests that had been made to move the date back further into September have seemingly been ignored, even though meetings had been held between the local authority and businesses voicing their disapproval.

The correspondence sent to the the CEO from a collective group of business owners in Tenby states: “You will of course be aware of our opposition to Ironman being held this year on September 3, 2023. I believe the reasons to our opposition to the event are well documented and understood by the executive of PCC.

“At our last meeting with Ironman and Marc Owen (street care manager) acting for PCC on January 9, we made three requests in line with our mandate from local business -that Ironman change the date to September 10 as we had finally agreed there were no health and safety issues in holding the event on this date and if that were not possible; that Ironman cancelled the event for 2023, and if that did not happen that; PCC cancel the Ironman fixture for 2023.

“Despite assurances we would receive a response between 10 and 14 days from Ironman and Marc Owen, we are led to believe through the pages of the Tenby Observer, Ironman have refused to co-operate and this is supported by PCC who have welcomed Ironman to Tenby on September 3, 2023. To date, we have received no formal communication from Ironman or PCC,” the correspondence continues.

“We are disappointed and regret PCC have completely failed to recognise our interests in this matter and before meeting further with the business community in Tenby, we would like to know what compensation we will be afforded by PCC in view of the staggering loss of trade we now forecast.

“We also think it now important to hear from the executive of PCC as media scrutiny intensifies.

“It is regrettable as all of these matters could have been avoided had Ironman and PCC engaged at the outset of this problem in September 2022.

“It would appear corporate greed, intransigence and the monumental failure of PCC to work with and protect the business community are all at fault.

“Of course at the heart of this fiasco lies the original decision to allow Ironman to operate within the summer holiday. We understand this decision was made unilaterally without reference to the executive?

“Perhaps you would confirm or deny this, because there is little confidence left of the integrity of PCC within the business community. Other than from the executive members of PCC we have met, there has been no regret or contrition, but a continual pursuit and justification to this decision.

“As we enter a difficult trading period, the effects of this decision will probably not materialise until the winter of 2023, but they will materialise.

“There will be job losses and some business will close in Tenby, all to accommodate a multi-national sports enterprise with what would appear, little regard for Tenby or Pembrokeshire.

“Would you please confirm, given the pressure on Council budget, Ironman will still continue to receive £50,000 from the Local Authority.

“We would also inform you, the business community in Tenby for whom we act, remain unanimous in their opposition to this event on this date. Please do not doubt our resolve in this matter,” they added.

A response to the statement has been forthcoming from the County Council’s Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, Rhys Sinnett, who said that Ironman’s position is that they had undertaken an internal review and maintained their position of the September 3 date.

“With regard to Mr Marc Owen updating you – I can confirm that we met last Tuesday (January 31) to review feedback received from councillors and Ironman and to discuss this matter in detail and once again I apologise for the delay in responding with the outcome from the January 9 meeting,” stated Cllr Sinnett.

“We have noted concerns raised regarding this year’s date. I hope it is appreciated we had been focussed on operational management and event planning, and to date had felt there was, in general, very strong support for the event.

“Going forward I would like to assure you that there will be a more robust and planned process to ensure wider and more effective engagement in relation to major event dates. I apologise for any concerns on this.

“We have noted the push back from some businesses in Tenby, in particular in relation to Ironman 2023 being on September 3. You have indicated that this date will impact on businesses turnover as it is still inside the school holiday period – you have also highlighted that a later date in the shoulder season assists businesses by extending the season.

“I note you have set out that if the date could not be moved the event should be cancelled for 2023 – having considered options we were not in a position to cancel this year’s event, we also felt this was not appropriate.

“We recognise that September 3 is not ideal. However, with the general support for Ironman over the years and that the date for 2020 was scheduled for September 6 it was felt that for one year the 3rd would be acceptable. English schools would have also returned.

“I am sorry that this matter has become so contentious under these circumstances, given the previous such good feeling in general across the community,” continued Cllr Sinnett, who went onto state that Ironman organisers were concerned about the feedback, and as their approach relies heavily on local community ‘buy in’ - they did undertake to go away from the meeting with businesses to reconsider the date.

They have subsequently came back to PCC with the following points noted from their response:

• Like any event of this scale, collaborative working between the event organiser and the Local Authority is important for success – this has been the basis of working arrangements to date.

• The date had been agreed at operational level between Pembrokeshire County Council and Ironman on this basis.

•  Ironman’s position is to maintain the respectful and trustful relationship between the athletes, who have planned to take part in the event on the agreed date, and PCC.

• A date change will have significant reputational and financial implications for all involved. Athletes and relatives will have to bear costs of changing travel and accommodation plans, Pembrokeshire can then assume a significant reduction in visitors due to a decline in participants not only in 2023 but also in the years to come.

Ironman organisers went onto to state that the concerns of the business groups had been duly noted, but emphasised that this was a ‘one-year scenario’.

They stated that moving forward, a wider working group, date structure and sign-off process would be reviewed and implemented; and that they did not want to see a cancellation to this year’s event.

Cllr Sinnett went onto say: “We have discussed this matter internally and on balance it is felt that as the event has been advertised and athlete and hospitality commitment is in place that we need to accept the date of September 3 for this one year.

“We needed to consider the wider position here, notwithstanding the business feedback, in relation to the reputation of Ironman Wales Pembrokeshire and the economic benefit it has given our county over the last 10 years and moving forward.

“Last year’s economic impact assessment has indicated a £5 million injection to our county during the event week alone – Ironman Wales Pembrokeshire is globally recognised as one of the premier Ironman events and the economic impact assessment indicates significant visitor spend. We also need to be mindful that athletes and families will visit the county outside Ironman week for pre-training and vacation.

“It was felt that we did not want to jeopardise the running of this international event in our county.

Cllr Sinnett said that he wanted to highlight that PCC are requesting that next year’s Ironman is held on September 22 - to demonstrate to the community that the event is moving further into the shoulder season, before confirming that the host agreement is in place until 2026, which does include a financial support to Ironman.

“With regards to the agreement for the date – I can confirm that previous dates have been agreed by both parties and we have not had any push back prior to this year – we will be reviewing how the event calendar is reviewed and we are setting up an internal Event Advisory Board in order to ensure greater engagement,” he explained.

“I have noted your concern and your statement ‘Please do not doubt our resolve in this matter’ – is a concern, and I would respectfully ask that you review this and our position – as we feel that the Ironman event has had economic benefit to Tenby and Pembrokeshire over the years and we want to continue to build the brand going forward.”

Cllr Sinnett also highlighted the fact that PCC had listened to concerns relating to Long Course Weekend and the impact it has on Tenby, stating that this event (which is held over a three-day period) will now be moved from the town centre to The Salterns car park.