News

County NFU elect new chairman

Published

6 years ago

November 27, 2013

A MEMBER and past chairman of the Narberth local branch, Mike Plumb, was earlier this week elected into office for the coming year as Chairman of the Pembroke County branch of the National Farmers Union.

He succeeds Mansel Raymond, North West local branch, and will have as his vice–chairman, Simon Richards of Central area.Born in Oxfordshire, Mike came to the area as a teenager in 1966 when his parents, Peter and Mary Plumb, bought Plascerdin Farm at Llangynin.

He has a strong NFU pedigree for his father was elected Chairman of the Union’s Carmarthen branch for 1988. Like his father, he was a member of the St Clears local branch in Carmarthenshire. Mike served the county as livestock committee chairman and has continued to be actively involved in Union affairs since moving to farm at the 92-acre Blaenffynnonau, Narberth and has chaired the Union’s Rural Affairs Committee in Pembrokeshire.

Mike is married to June, who works for a well-established firm of accountants, and the couple have two sons, Steven, who works for the NHS, and Tim, who is a graphic designer – and three young grandchildren. As a means of generating extra income 16 years ago, Mike trained in pest control and started a service for farmers and others in disposing of rodent pests and he was also in demand in mole control. This side of the business had to end when the use of strychnine became prohibited.

More recently, in partnership with his wife June, with specialised equipment and well trained staff, he now works on private contracts and for the County Council and National Parks Authority on tree surgery (lopping and topping), tree removal (including an emergency 24-hour service), mobile wood chipping and log splitting, orchard and large garden maintenance and bracken control.

Mike manages all the practical aspects of the partnership, personally overseeing all of the work and insisting that his staff provide a reliable service and receive ongoing training and updating, to keep within latest safety guidelines.

Mike says: “We take immense pride in the fact that most of the work we undertake in the private sector, comes from the recommendations of
satisfied clients”.

Panel: Union activities
THE annual dinner of the NFU’s Pembroke County branch, attended by 160 members, friends and guests, was held last Friday evening at the new Crug Glas Function Centre, near Croesgoch, operated by union members, Perkin and Janet Evans. The guest speaker for the occasion was Andy Robertson, who was just over 12 months ago, appointed as the Union’s Director General for England and Wales.

This week’s annual general meeting was held at the Wolfscastle Country Hotel and the Union’s annual County Conference is to be held at the Nantyffin, Llandissilio on Thursday, January 9 when the guest speaker will be Prof Wayne Powell.

For the past five years Wayne has been the highly regarded Director of IBERS (The Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University) and recently appointed as Chief Science Officer of the CGIAR Consortium –a global partnership of research organizations.

News

Cleddau Bridge Hotel fire started deliberately

Published

3 hours ago

July 15, 2019

Thomas Sinclair

A RESPONSE to a Freedom of Information Act request made by Llanion councillor Joshua Beynon reveals that the fire which devastated the Cleddau Bridge Hotel on March 30 this year was arson.

The blaze followed a protracted period during which the hotel had been empty following the refusal of a planning application for change of use to residential accommodation.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that investigators have now concluded the fire investigation regarding the fire that took place at the Cleddau Bridge Hotel on March 30, 2019.

“The investigation determined that the fire was started deliberately, and all relevant information has duly been passed on to Dyfed Powys Police.”

The Herald has asked Dyfed Powys Police to comment on the progress of its investigation.

News

No prosecutions in Pembroke Dock grant fraud allegations

Published

3 hours ago

July 15, 2019

Thomas Sinclair

MORE than five years since allegations of impropriety in publicly-funded building restoration grants were taken up by the police, the local force tells Pembrokeshire County Council chief executive, Ian Westley, in a letter circulated to councillors: “The Crown Prosecution Service has determined that there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction against any of the suspects.”

More details to follow – the matter will also be discussed at this Thursday’s full council meeting.

Education

Fishguard school last in Wales without broadband

Published

5 hours ago

July 15, 2019

Thomas Sinclair

CHILDREN in a school in Fishguard are excited about next term before the summer holidays have even begun.

Ysgol Llanychllwydog is the last school in Wales without broadband.

The pupils sometimes have to wait half an hour for pages to load. Sometimes videos won’t play. Now the school is looking forward to an ultra-fast future, and for the head teacher the changes cannot come quickly enough.

Currently when the internet goes down Amanda Lawrence has to drive 10 minutes to her other school to send an email to report it.

“It’s frustrating. There are lots of schools that are able to use schemes where you can plan electronically, but it’s difficult for staff here to do that,” she said.

As part of a scheme to target hard-to-reach places, fibre optic cable is being laid along a 15-mile route from Haverfordwest.

Matt Lovegrove, who works for Openreach, admitted it had been ‘a massive challenge’.

He said: “We’ve had to plough 1.5 miles of new trench to put new duct in, we’ve had to put new poles and had to span the cable between 50 poles as well, so a real variety of challenges.

“The product is limitless in terms of speed. It’s gigabit capable, that means they can download music, interactive learning et cetera, and it will be instant for them.”

The wider community will also benefit from the upgrade, he said. “We are looking to work with local government and residents to expand that fibre footprint to as much of the village as possible.”

“They’ll be able to access the high speed broadband and again get all the benefits from that.”

The last school in Wales without broadband

Broadband is a Welsh Government priority. It’s invested £13.8m in school broadband.

But Llanarchllwydog has been a tough nut. It’s taken the efforts of Welsh and UK governments to bring broadband.

“Because of the challenging topography, that we are familiar with, it has taken rather a long time to make sure that every school is equipped with the broadband speeds that they need,” said Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams.

“This means that schools will have the external infrastructure that they need to deliver our exciting new curriculum and I hope to be making an announcement shortly on further investment on kit and equipment inside schools.”

The work is being done through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme.

DCMS minister Margot James MP agrees cooperation between the two governments has helped deliver the project.

“That’s not the end of it for Wales,” Ms James said.

“The other aspects of the rural gigabit connectivity programme is that we are using that £200 million to bring full fibre to local public buildings like hospitals and schools so that they get the gigabit connectivity first.”

The cable has now reached the telegraph post outside the school. The final work will happen over summer.