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Residents’ concern over Newgale defences

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Addressing the crowd: Cllr David Lloyd

Addressing the crowd: Cllr David Lloyd

AROUND 100 North Pembrokeshire residents packed into the Solva village hall on Wednesday night (Feb 18) to attend a public to discuss the future of the pebble bank at Newgale. The discussion, arranged by Pembrokeshire County Council, follows a number of breaches of the defences in recent years which has left residents questioning its effectiveness. Speaking at the meeting were Pembrokeshire County Council’s Head of Highways and Construction, Darren Thomas, and Assistant Engineer, Emyr Williams.

The officers gave a presentation on a projector screen which explained about climate change, and the impact on the Pembrokeshire Coast. The Authority explained that a consultation exercise was underway with the public over what to do about Newgale. The council said that they would be seeking funding for a £70,000 report on the future of coastal defences either from external sources, or from the council’s own capital expenditure budget. Mr Thomas said: “There’s a history of over-topping, in 1989 and more recently in 2014 and our management approach over the last 20 years has been to rebuild the bank.

In terms of the future we have come along today to talk about a vulnerability study we have commissioned.” County Councillor David Lloyd also addressed the crowd saying that he thought that a causeway could be constructed across the Newgale valley, and this should be built using money that the county should receive from the closure of the base at Brawdy. Cllr Lloyd later said: “My thanks to Darren Thomas and Emyr Williams of the Highways Department for staging this crucial meeting in Solva on the unsustainability of the shingle bank in Newgale and the dire potential consequences for the adjacent arterial road to Solva and St. Davids.”

Cllr Lloyd added: “In my view the creation of a causeway bridge across the valley is the only answer to the inevitable advance of the sea and the disappearance of the road, sooner than later. The cost of such a construction would, of course, be an issue. I would encourage the local population, however, to get behind a campaign to persuade government of the equity of funding such a bridge in the light of the huge public investments in transport infrastructure currently being proposed for the city regions of Swansea, Cardiff and Newport.” “Finally”, Cllr Lloyd said, “there is the matter of the military base in Brawdy, which is to close in 2018 after 65 years of underpinning the economy of the St. Davids peninsula. Pembrokeshire County Council is already considering the future potential uses of the site. Without a serviceable road access, however, there would be no future for this monolithic cold war edifice, which would slowly rot in perpetuity.

Would it not, therefore, be an appropriate legacy on the closure of Brawdy for government to fund a new, secure road access to Solva and St. Davids by way of a defence dividend to replace the considerable economic loss of the base to the community?” Mr Williams, who has been working on the Shoreline Management Plan, said that there are four options for coastline management: hold the shoreline, advance the shoreline, manage realignment of the shoreline or do nothing. The current approach at Newgale is management realignment, but Mr Williams told the packed meeting: “Eventually that will change to a no active intervention policy because there will be nothing there to manage. “We will keep putting it back, but only for a limited time.” The severe storms of January and February 2014 proved too tough a test for the pebbles, with a combination of howling winds and high tides collapsing parts of the bank. The road was left impassable for days, with motorists having to endure lengthy diversions. Last year, the Prime Minister, David Cameron has visited Pembrokeshire to survey the damage caused by the recent storms.

His visit included an unannounced stop The Duke of Edinburgh public house in Newgale. Speaking at the time the MP said: “Today the Prime Minister has paid tribute to the County Council’s workers who helped keep Pembrokeshire open during the recent storms, during which the County Council got a lot of things right. “It is a sad day that the County Council is in the news for the wrong reasons.” Jasper Slater, the owner of the pub for fourteen years told The Herald: “The Prime Minister arrived by helicopter and landed in the car park. He was greeted at the door of the pub by myself and was shown around the damage by landlord Chris Lugg and his partner.

He looked around and spoke with the workmen inside such as plasters and electricians. He was very interested to see how the bad storms had effected the community and offered his concerns.” The Prime Minister joked to Mr. Slater last year that he may be back to enjoy a pint with him once the reconstruction work was completed.

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Community

County Hall to offer space for community banking

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A CALL for Pembrokeshire County Council to potentially change its banking arrangement with Barclays, after it closed its Haverfordwest branch has been turned down, but County Hall is to offer space for community banking.

Barclays Bank, on the town’s High Street, is to close on May 10.

The council has had a banking services contract with Barclays since 2013.

Councillor Huw Murphy, in a notice of motion heard by Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting of April 22, asked the council to review its banking arrangements with Barclays following the announced closure.

e said the loss of a branch “not only impacts upon town centres and businesses but also disproportionately impacts the elderly who are less likely to embrace on-line banking options”.

A report for Cabinet members said, in terms of the impact on Pembrokeshire residents, Barclays has said that it is “not leaving Haverfordwest and [will] continue to provide face-to-face support for those who need it” via community locations.

Two options were presented to Cabinet: to retender the banking services contract, and, the favoured, to work with Barclays to ensure a community location is set up in Haverfordwest.

Members heard the costs associated with moving to a new banking service provider could be in excess of £50,000.

For the second, favoured option, members heard Barclays was in discussions with the council about a location for potential community banking.

Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance Cllr Alec Cormack, after outlining the risks in the report for members, and moving the notice be not adopted, said he had “considerable sympathy” with Cllr Murphy’s notice.

He told councillors there was a glimmer of light for banking arrangements in the county, with an agreement now signed for two ground floor rooms at County Hall, Haverfordwest, to be used for community banking.

From April 25, the rooms will be available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, members heard.

Cabinet Member for Planning & Housing Delivery Cllr Jon Harvey also said he had “a lot of sympathy” for the motion, adding: “It’s excellent news a deal has been struck to occupy the ground floor rooms three days a week; hopefully this will mitigate, to a certain amount, the closure.

“If we can work with the respective banks to get a community-type approach let’s move forward.”

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Haverfordwest interchange: Next stage of £19m project backed

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The second stage of building Haverfordwest’s near-£19m transport interchange has been backed, with senior councillors hearing it could cost the council more to not support it.

The transport interchange, which includes an integrated bus station and construction of a new multi-storey car park, is part of a wider series of regeneration projects in the county town.

The total cost of the scheme in the approved budget is £18.881m, £1.987m from Pembrokeshire County Council; the remainder, £16.894m, from an already-awarded Welsh Government grant.

To date, £3.425m has been spent on advanced works, including the demolition of the old multi-storey car park and a temporary bus station.

Members of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, meeting on April 22, were recommended to approve the award of the Stage 2 construction contract for the Haverfordwest Transport Interchange.

The report for members listed two simple options for Cabinet, to authorise the award of a contract, recommended, or to not.

For the latter it warned: “It is envisaged Welsh Government will withdraw the funding awarded and the council would need to repay grants received to date; £10.322m has been received to date of which £3.376m has been offset against expenditure.”

It added: “Cost to cease this project could cost PCC more in terms of grant repayment and any capital work required to make good. PCC match contribution for the project is forecast as £1.987m of the £18.881m.”

Planning permission for the interchange was granted in 2022, with a temporary bus station constructed that year and the old multi-storey building demolished in 2023.

That year, members of the county council’s Cabinet agreed a temporary car park will be sited on the demolished remains of the old multi-storey car park until the Haverfordwest Public Transport Interchange – delayed as no compliant tender had been found at the time – is built.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller said: “The interchange is an important part of the regeneration of Haverfordwest, it will not regenerate Haverfordwest on its own, it is part of a wider process. The alternative to us being engaged is we simply allow it to decline and fail.”

He said the interchange was about “making it easier to visit Haverfordwest,” making parking provision “really straightforward, making it easy and convenient as possible”.

Cllr Miller said not progressing with the scheme would risk the grants already obtained, meaning the council could potentially foot the bill for costs to date, at a greater level than progressing.

He said the cost options were a near-£2m subsidised council involvement for the whole scheme or the £3m-plus spent to date if the scheme was ended, which would leave the car park as it is now.

“It’s pretty reasonable that if they give us the money and we don’t build a transport interchange they’ll be looking for that money back,” Cllr Miller said.

He said previous figures from parking revenue – back in 2019 – amounted to £100,000 a year; and could be expected to at least double on a “like-for-like” basis following the increase in parking charges.

Members, after a private and confidential session over the actual contract details, agreed to proceed with the scheme, awarding the contract to Kier Construction Western and Wales.

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RNLI prepare for summer with medical training exercise in Pembrokeshire

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RNLI lifeguards from the north Pembrokeshire team, volunteers from St Davids RNLI and St Davids Coastguard Rescue Team came together at Whitesands beach on Thursday (18 April), for a multi-agency medical training exercise. Pembrokeshire RNLI lifeguards and St Davids volunteer lifeboat crew took part in a multi-agency medical training exercise alongside St Davids Coastguard Rescue Team in preparation for the upcoming summer season.

The Coastal Medicine programme was set up six years ago at the suggestion of clinicians from Hywel Dda University Health Board. The aim of the programme is train lifeguards, lifeboat crews and HM Coastguard teams in working collaboratively when responding to medical incidents on the coast.

Clinicians from Hywel Dda work with RNLI staff to design exercises simulating mass-casualty incidents on land and afloat. The exercises allow lifeguards, lifeboat crews and Coastguard teams to practise and test their rescue response and casualty care.

The simulated incident at Whitesands involved a medical incident at sea leading to a boat going out of control and ploughing through a group of swimmers causing multiple injuries. RNLI lifeguards responded to casualties on the beach while St Davids inshore and all-weather lifeboat crews dealt with the situation at sea. St Davids Coastguard Rescue supported RNLI colleagues as they would in a real-life scenario.

In total there were six casualties to treat, all of whom were given the immediate medical care by the teams on scene. As in a real-life scenario, they were then prepared to be handed over to the care of the Ambulance Service.

Roger Smith, RNLI Area Lifesaving Manager said: ‘The scenario was based on a real-life incident, it’s so important that we train in dealing with challenging situations.

‘The RNLI lifeguards, lifeboat crew, and the Coastguard rescue team worked really well together collaborating together to achieve the best possible result.

‘The feedback from all the participants was really positive, and our medical colleagues were very complimentary about the competence shown and the inter-agency co-operation.

‘This scenario training gives confidence to our lifeguards and lifeboat crews, and ensures the teamwork and communication is already in place ready for real-life incidents.’

Martin Charlton, an RNLI lifeguard in north Pembrokeshire said:

‘Last night’s exercise was a great opportunity for me and my colleagues on the lifeguard team to upskill ahead of the summer season.

‘We regularly attend incidents in the season that require a multi-agency response. These scenarios are a brilliant opportunity to prepare for the the most challenging situations.

‘The team and I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise and feel better prepared for the season as a result.

‘It’s always a pleasure working alongside the Coastguard rescue team and the lifeboat as one crew.’

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