Residents’ views are being sought at the moment around various localities such as Tenby and Narberth on ‘Active Travel Network’ plans being touted by Pembrokeshire Council - but are aspects of these schemes said to encourage ‘healthier lifestyle’ behaviour changes, somewhat box ticking exercises?

The Local Authority’s ‘Transport Strategy Team’ is consulting on improvements within the towns and communities, in a bid they say, to help people travel on foot, bikes and other wheels with the creation of more ‘shared use paths’.

Like the 20mph limits brought in across Wales, some see this as a further attack on the motorist; whilst others fed-up with watching bike-riders totally ignore the various cycle paths put in across many counties at a fair cost over the past few years, only for such cyclists to continue to ‘hog roads’ in many cases, view it as another waste of tax payers money.

Of course, there are benefits to such proposals, in the case of Saundersfoot which has recently completed the first phase of such a project, there is now better access to the seaside village’s train station; whilst in Tenby, one of the proposals put forward should see it much safer for sporting participants, supporters and families to make it on foot to the town’s football and rugby grounds at the Clicketts and Heywood Lane, with the creation of a ‘Multi-User Path’.

PCC has stated that ‘active travel’ will also be a ‘greener and cheaper’ way to travel.

Part of the proposals is to ‘create a strategic route’ with the aim to provide a ‘shared and safe space’ for all users around the likes of Penally, Tenby, Saundersfoot and Pentlepoir without using a car or other vehicle; thereby ‘reducing congestion, parking and traffic pressures’.

However, as one person pointed out, who is going to commute from Penally to Saundersfoot on foot...especially with the wild weather and flooding we have seen in recent times in such spots! Also, it’s been well documented for some time how poor the public transport system is across Pembrokeshire, which is only getting worse.

When such plans seemingly end up impacting on the place where people live though, such as The Glebe in Tenby for example, where residents are already flagging-up concerns that such proposals will take away valuable street parking (a huge commodity in the seaside town!) from the outside of homes, are parts of these projects from our Local Authorities a step too far?