Pembrokeshire County Council's licensing department has been labelled as "irresponsible" for choosing not to inform town and community councils of applications that have been submitted in their locality.

Members of Tenby Town Council met with Sarah Johns and Charlotte Mathias from the authority's licensing team at their meeting on Tuesday night to discuss their concerns on the matter.

Tenby Civic Society have also recently written to the county council's director of development, Dr Steven Jones, stating that they, too, were concerned that town and community councils across the county were no longer being formally consulted in respect of licensing applications.

The town clerk, Mr. Andrew Davies, explained that they were no longer receiving notifications of licensing applications in the town due to a change in data protection guidelines.

"Although we are not a statutory consultee, we are able to represent the electorate and make representations on any licensing applications should we be approached," Mr. Davies told the meeting.

Mrs. Johns told councillors that, as well as the data protection review changes, staffing cuts had also played a part in the decision not to formally notify councils of applications, which made it more difficult to administer the process.

"We have 900 premises licensed within the county and we consult with what are known as the 'responsible authorities', which are the likes of Dyfed Powys Police, Mid and West Wales Fire Service, as well as the county council's pollution control, and and health and safety departments," she said.

"The three things we have to do under legislation is to put the applications on our website; display a notice outside the premises; and place an advert in a locally distributed newspaper.

"Any relevant representations are then put before the licensing sub-committee who make the decision on applications.

"Although we have changed the way we are dealing with applications, it does not change the way town and community councils make representations to us," continued Mrs. Johns.

Clr. Lawrence Blackhall found it hard to understand how the county council informing a town council of a licensing application would be a breach of data protection.

"I also don't see why it's impossible for PCC's licensing department to send us a quick 30 second email informing us that they've had a new application in the town, so that we are at least aware of it and can check it out on the website," remarked Clr. Blackhall, with his colleague Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown agreeing.

"Tenby being what it is, with so many licensed premises in a small locality, the town council acts as the frontline for the public to object or approve an application, so if we miss something, how are we supposed to represent the people that might want to complain about something that is being proposed in their backyard," she said,

"I just think it's quite irresponsible of the county council to cut down on something like this. It's imperative that in a town of this size, with so many licences, that we're informed of such matters.

"It's a poor show! What is the point of town councils and Pembrokeshire County Council itself, if the people are not represented," added Clr. Mrs. Brown.

Mr. Davies said that things had moved forward slightly from when the matter was initially raised a few weeks ago, as at that stage, the county council were not even posting any new licensing applications on their website, and it would have required someone to go over to County Hall in Haverfordwest to view any details.

Clr. Dr. Peter Easy requested that the town clerk continue to monitor the county council's website for any new licensing applications in the future.

"The avenue for democracy is still very much there, but we do need to establish a licensing policy ourselves as a town council, stating what our licensing objectives are," added Clr. Mike Evans.