Pembroke Dock Shared Vision Meeting

What’s Happening

As part of these shared vision meetings, we provide the opportunity for organisations to provide context behind ongoing and future developments across the railway stations and surrounding community.

Ceri Rees, Transport Strategy and Project Coordinator at Pembrokeshire County Council and George Lance, Senior Engineer at Atkins shared ongoing plans at Pembroke Dock railway station. In 2016, Welsh Government granted funding for a bus focal point area at the rear of the station, with provision for additional car parking spaces, bicycle parking and improved footpaths to the nearby retail park and onto Water Street. This funding has allowed engineering and architectural design company Atkins to be commissioned to explore options on improving access to the proposed bus focal point.

The curtilage of the bus focal point area includes an area of undeveloped land, adjacent to the retail park. Traffic from the retail park currently exits onto the A477 London Road, onward onto Waterloo Roundabout and towards the new signalised junction at Ferry Lane. Options are being explored to increase local bus access to the bus focal point area and encouragement of sustainable transport to relieve heavy traffic congestion in the area.

Welsh Government has granted additional funding to Pembrokeshire County Council for the 2021-22 financial year which will allow development of a full business case and produce a detailed design and technical report to support planning application. A further bid is planned to be submitted in January 2022, if successful the scheme is proposed to be delivered in 2022-23.

Mary-Anne Constantine from Ports, Past and Present shared exciting plans for a cultural heritage project joining up the past and present with the aim of connecting operating port towns on both sides of the Irish Sea. Ports, Past and Present have commissioned 12 local artists from 5 port towns to work with the community to create new ways of approaching build heritage using artistic mediums. Ideas include storytelling events and showcasing creative works by rail. There’s interest in contacting the owners of the station building to create a “mini-museum” of life in Pembrokeshire.

Tim James from Milford Haven Port Authority shared news on the Pembroke Dock Marine, a £60m Swansea Bay City Deal project. The Pembroke Dock Marine will establish a world-class centre for marine engineering, with the immediate focus on the low carbon energy sector. There is interest of approaching the town with a focus on sustainable regeneration, creation of a renewable hub and providing more job opportunities within the town.

What We’d Love to See

• Information board that presents areas of interest.
• Interpretation boards at the station
• Pointers to places of interest embedded into the pavers (pavement)
• For the town to become a hub for clean, green energy.
• Creation of new jobs and more skills training.
• Local jobs for local people 
• More community schemes and projects.
• Community asset mapping.
• Connectivity between organisations. Joined up working.
• More engagement with the local community, especially young people.
• Open discussions with other port towns. How have they addressed their barriers?
• Community social events on certain evenings at the station’s public house.
• Future visioning events with more community, residential voices.
• Better consultation – level crossing closure raised several times
• A community centre
• A Festival in the town with food, entertainment etc 

Contact

Please email zoe@4theregion.com and jennifer@southwestwales.co for more details.