Boat station demolition refused

The old lifeboat station has been a feature in Tenby since 1905 Enlarge Image

The RNLI is launching a search of a different kind after plans to demolish Tenby's 100-year-old former lifeboat station were refused.

A £5m replacement building has opened nearby, but maintaining the old one is costing the charity some £6,000 a year.

Its request to demolish the listed building has been turned down by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The RNLI is now looking for uses for the old station in the hope that it will pay its own way.

The station's future had divided opinion, with Tenby Civic Society backing the RNLI's application but the Ancient Monuments Society and Victorian Society both wanted it retained.

The application was called in by the assembly government and Environment Minister Jane Davidson has ruled the loss of the building would cause "considerable harm to the national heritage".

Now the RNLI said it would market the station and is looking for someone to come forward and take on the lease.

Spokeswoman Danielle Rush said the station was owned by the Crown Estate, and as it was a listed building major alterations were unlikely to receive planning consent.

"Obviously we do not want to incur the annual maintenance costs, so we are just about to appoint an agent who will work with us to extensively market the building.

"Hopefully, someone will come forward with an alternative use, although any proposal would have to meet with the approval of the Crown Estate and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority."