PWLL Cam – an area of Aberaeron’s inner harbour cherished by past generations – is nowadays both an embarrassment and a disgrace, according to the town mayor.

Cllr Elizabeth Evans says Pwll Cam has become clogged by silt and urgently needs to be dredged.

On Friday she met Ceredigion County Council chief executive Eifion Evans to explore ways of how it might be improved.

“I’m extremely worried about Pwll Cam which is looking like a wasteland,” Cllr Evans told colleagues. “It’s meant to be the showpiece of Aberaeron, but its appearance is absolutely awful.

“To be honest I feel a sense of embarrassment when I see people sitting eating ice creams at the harbourside looking out at it.

“Walking round there you hear people commenting on it every day – quite frankly, it’s a disgrace.”

Cllr Evans suggested Pwll Cam could also be polluted by industrial chemicals and suggested Natural Resources Wales officers would need to undertake exploratory work so Ceredigion County Council would know exactly what they were dealing with.

“Something has to happen – it certainly needs to be dredged,” she added.

“But I don’t want them just to take out all that black silt because it stinks and that wouldn’t be a good advert for the town.

“If it is dredged some sort of flushing system then needs to be installed so that the silt doesn’t build up again.

“It used to be a crabbing mecca to us kids back in the day but if any child fell in there now that mud would seize them like a vice."

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now