Plans have been unanimously approved for a new housing development to be built on the site of the former Cottage Hospital in Tenby.

Members of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority's development management committee discussed the application for the erection of 10 dwellings, with associated garden and parking spaces, on land at Trafalgar Road, at their meeting on Wednesday morning.

Members of Tenby Town Council recently elected to recommend approval for the scheme, however, councillors did raise concerns over the adequacy of parking provision on the site.

One complainant, Mark Williams, a nearby resident, told the National Park committee members that he was not against the development itself, but felt that the resident's parking was '100 per cent oversubscribed' in that area already, and asked them to take that into consideration, as any vehicles belonging to the new properties which cannot be parked within the area of the scheme itself could only add to the extreme pressure for parking spaces on Trafalgar Road and Church Park.

Committee member Clr. Mike Evans said that it was really good news that this scheme had finally come forward as the site had been derelict for some time.

"It's a clever design and the architect has done a great job," he said, asking for the planning officers and the developers to be mindful of the parking issues and also a problem with flood water that frequently caused a problem nearby the site at Culver Park.

He also asked if the developer could contribute to a section 106 agreement where play area provision is provided in kind in the policy.

Clr. Rob Lewis asked if it was feasible for the developers to create further parking spaces on the front elevation.

Director of Park direction and planning Jane Gibson told the committee that a considerable amount of time had been spent with the developers to come up with a 'high quality' scheme.

"It's a really good balance that has been found. The landscaping needs to be of a really high quality," she commented.

Planning officer Caroline Bowen noted that it had been accepted that the provision of affordable housing would make the scheme unviable at present time, and therefore the applicant had provided an agreement in respect of an 'assessment of viability,' which would re-assess the viability of the development at a set period after its commencement.

Clr. Evans praised this approach and suggested that the 'local connections' policy could be used for the development to meet an identified local need for housing.

Committee members agreed that the application be delegated to the chief executive, director of park direction and planning/head of development management to be granted planning permission subject to appropriate conditions.