Sir,
In your paper on December 10, 2010, you printed my comments on a previous article you'd printed concerning the 'Eyesore rubble' on Tenby's South Beach. I was overwhelmed by the response that I received from people who felt the same as me and said they either belong to the majority who moan about these things but do nothing about it, or the other group who have previously tried to bring concerns to the relevant authorities' attention and failed and then been left feeling extremely frustrated and let down.
I would, therefore, be grateful if you'd allow me to update readers as to what I have tried doing and any action or response I've achieved.
From the time my letter was printed in the Observer and up to December 16, 2010, I contacted Tenby Town Council, the officer at PCC who was is in charge of monitoring the South Beach and Mr. Simon Hart MP.
The response from PCC was that the beach was being monitored regularly. However, the reference to the areas where the sand containing debris had been deposited and the areas that they were mentioning did not relate to one another. Offers to meet at the beach were not acted on.
On Friday, December 17, I was walking the beach and noticed that a great amount of sand had been deposited in front of the construction site and by the cliffs underneath the Esplanade. The sand contained limestone and building rubble.
I took photographs and on returning home contacted PCC, Simon Hart MP, National Park and the Environment Agency.
On Monday, December 20, I received a call from the Environment Agency officer who said he'd like to meet, as I'd suggested, and in the meantime could I tell him who was dealing with the matter at PCC and who the construction company was.
The Environment Agency then contacted PCC and as a result of this PCC contacted me to ask was a meeting at the South Beach on Wednesday, December 22, acceptable. Naturally I agreed.
At the meeting was myself, Rod Thomas, of the Enviroment Agency, Chris Payne, the officer in charge of monitoring the South Beach, Huw Watson, PCC planning department, Matthew Hodgson, project site manager, and three construction workers.
We first visited the area where they had deposited sand containing rubble at the end of October. They did pick up a large amount of breeze blocks and building debris, although they disputed that some of this was as a result of the demolition. I then asked the Mr. Hodgson why had sand containing rubble been deposited into the sea, as to do this you have to have a licence from the Welsh Assembly Government, and they didn't. He claimed this was done when his back was turned!
We then walked to where they had deposited sand more recently. I pointed out that this area had previously had soft golden sand and now it was awful. Mr. Thomas asked the PCC officer if he'd given permission for them to dump there. His reply was 'no.'
The site manager was then asked why they'd put it there without permission. His reply was that it was busy that day!
It was agreed that on returning to work after the Christmas break they would remove it all. However, it was pointed out that the Welsh Assembly Government should be contacted in case they had concerns about them removing the original sand. This may not definitely have to be done, but was advisable.
On January 7, 2011, and after the company had returned to work, I felt that the sand in question had still not been removed. I could see that the vehicles had been there, but I could still see the limestone and debris in the sand. On January 17, I emailed the site manager and asked 'what was the delay', to which he replied that between January 7 and January 10 they had removed 250 tonnes of sand that contained the stone. He also wrote that PCC and National Park had visited the area on Monday, January 17, and said that everything was now fine.
The following day I took more photographs showing the date and time and emailed them all to the parties concerned. The area was nowhere near back to how it had been prior to them depositing all this. The only immediate response was from the Environment Agency who tried to advise what else I could do.
Then on Friday, January 21, the corporate social responsibility manager of Opco construction company emailed me to see if we can meet and discuss the problem of sand deposits that contained debris. This will hopefully take place in the next week to 10 days.
National Park has never acknowledged or replied to any of my correspondence.
If I and other members of the public are able to see what is happening and have viable concerns why can't the relevant authorities. I have found the whole matter of monitoring the beach appalling.
I have also requested that the construction company notify the town clerk and the local press as to what is happening or happened to 'Merlins Cave' and the 'Beacon.'
Joy Ford-Kicinski,
Tenby.