CONTENTIOUS plans to demolish the Old Pennar School, and build 15 homes on the site have been given the go-ahead by unelected planning officers, despite strong local concerns and a plea for the application to be heard by councillors.

The application, by Sam Stalbow of the Pembrokeshire Housing Association, to build five two-bedroom houses and 10 one-bedroom flats on the Treowen Road site, owned by the county council, was conditionally approved yesterday, August 26.

Concerns have been raised about the plans on a blog website Save Old Pennar School, created by former Pennar resident Adrian James, and a public meeting was held at Pennar’s St Patrick’s Hall in June, attended by more than 60 concerned residents.

A request, submitted by Pennar County Councillor Tony Wilcox, for the application to be heard by the county council’s planning and rights of way committee was previously turned down.

At the time he said: “There is significant local objection to demolition of what is seen by some as an iconic building in the community.”

One of the main issues raised at the recent meeting was the demolition of the “cornerstone of Pennar”.

Ann Dureau, a founder member of Pembrokeshire Housing Association, said the proposal went against all it had stood for in its early days.

“The fact that a housing association is proffering the vandalism of Pembroke Dock is absolutely outrageous.”

The meeting heard 82 one-bedroom houses a year were needed in the area and funding, and a need for energy efficiency, meant new builds were more suitable than renovation.

Speaking after the decision, Adrian James said: “I think that the decision is not community-based, but led by the need for Pembrokeshire County Council to meet housing targets and its urgent need for money, having allocated funds inefficiently in the past. Once again Pennar gets trampled over.”