News

Services to be cut beyond the bone

Published

8 years ago

February 24, 2016

‘Giving the public what they want at a level that’s affordable’: Jonathan Haswell

THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD has been provided with a copy of the confidential report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) on the Council’s finances and where ‘savings’ can be made and ‘efficiencies’ found.

And it makes grim reading. Claims that the County Council has ‘taken the sting out of budget-cutting’, as was claimed in an article in Accounting and Business last November, appear to have the capacity to bite it on the backside and require industrial quantities of the local government equivalent of savlon for treatment.

As The Herald recently revealed, Pembrokeshire County Council’s has massively underspent on the standard spending assessment from the Welsh Government to the tune of £42m over three years. That policy was seemingly aimed at maintaining the IPPG’s fixation with the totemic claim of setting Wales’s lowest Council tax and obsession with pursuing a cuts agenda more in common with England than in Wales. The consequences of that policy are now coming home to roost as when it comes to cutting services, Pembrokeshire is now faced with cutting not to the bone but to the marrow.

The most massive cut will fall in social care. The social care budget has already taken a series of massive and slashing reductions under the stewardship of former Labour member Simon Hancock. The Herald can, however, report that there is more and worse to come for the most vulnerable people in our county.

CUTS AIMED AT THE VULNERABLE

Under the so-called cost reduction/ efficiency proposals for 2016/17, the Council is considering a cut of £750,000+ in day care provision and a £1.4m cut in home care services. Nursing home placements will be hit with a £119,000 cut and there is a massive cut of £922,000 in residential placements. The Council is being asked to swallow a £329,000 in supported accommodation and a £320,000 cut in unspecified ‘Other Services’ in Adult Care.

All in all the cuts to Adult Care amount to £4m in the next civic year. The situation is no less grim for the Council’s Child Care Services with £831,000 of projected cuts, including a £250,000 cut to the fostering service and £329,000 cut from other family services.

The planned cuts to Child Services are blandly noted as possibly impacting negatively on the Council’s prevention agenda.

Given Pembrokeshire’s ‘chequered’ track record on child protection, one has to wonder whether the Council really intends to jeopardise its already fragile reputation by creating a situation in which its will and ability to protect Pembrokeshire’s children is called into question.

SCHOOLS BUDGET BATTERED

Even while the County Council takes part in the largest, most ambitious, and potentially most chaotic and litigious schools reorganisation in Wales, it is planning to cut schools’ budgets. In the midst of a spending spree totalling tens of millions of pounds, with reserves syphoned from departmental budgets to support its grandiose ambitions, the Council is planning to cut funding for primary and secondary schools by almost £1.9m.

It has identified the potential risk of those cuts of being that ‘pupil outcomes do not improve’.

In other words, the Council is prepared to embrace a policy on the one hand that its 21st Century Schools programme claims to address. What that says about the Council’s confidence in its own schools programme and the good faith of assurances about improvements made during the course of its disorganised attempt at schools reorganisation is laid open to question.

£337,000 will be cut from the inclusion and complex needs budget for education, £187,000 from the school meals budget, and £194,000 from the schools effectiveness programme. A further £37,000 in savings will come from the music service, governors’ service, and sports development budgets. There is a scheduled £242,000 cut to Adult and Community Education and a further £52,000 cut to the youth service.

All in all, a reduction to the education budget in excess of £2.9m in one year. Just enough to cover the cost of the Council’s contribution to its favoured new 6th Form Centre at Pembrokeshire College.

HIGHWAYS AND LEISURE CUTBACKS

£696,000 is to be shaved from the highways budget.

£32,000 of that money is to be pared from the coastal defence budget, while a further £28K is to be carved out of a maintenance review of flood defences and drainage. The Council is counting on mild winters and clement weather to justify the former cut, while crossing its fingers that cutting the latter will not result in its failure to fulfil a statutory duty.

While those figures are small compared to the £250,000+ cut in highways maintenance, about which the Council notes that ‘some works may not be done’, they are suggestive a desperate crossing of fingers about the elements.

Meanwhile, the Council proposes to shave £192,000 off the leisure budget by the expedient of closing them at bank holidays and reducing opening hours. It remains to be seen what impact this has on Pembrokeshire’s ability to offer anything for tourists to do on a rainy May Day or Good Friday. Although, it may be the case – as appears to be indicated by the cuts above – that the authority is in possession of remarkably detailed long range weather forecasts.

With £114,000 to be slashed off the library service and a further £59,000 about archives, it seems that Pembrokeshire is prepared to make a solid contribution to the decline of literacy and bury the past beyond retrieval.

However, Pembrokeshire continues to have the lowest council tax in Wales.

Business

Largest Welsh port appoints communications and marketing director

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE Port of Milford Haven has announced that Anna Malloy has been appointed as its first Communications and Marketing Director.

Anna is appointed to the Senior Management Team and this new role will be pivotal to the delivery of the Port’s long-term growth and diversification agenda and in ensuring that its obligations to coastal communities, future generations and to nature are honoured.

Tom Sawyer, CEO of the Port of Milford Haven, congratulated Anna and said: “Anna has a key role to play in our future and it’s doubly lovely to see ‘port-grown-talent’ flourish and for colleagues to progress up through our organisation.”

Anna will lead across the public affairs, marketing, sustainability, media relations, and community relations activities. She will therefore play a central role in the development of new and existing partnerships, including the Celtic Freeport, the Milford Haven Energy Cluster and the Celtic Collection; sitting alongside the delivery of major projects like Milford Waterfront and the Pembroke Dock Renewables Terminal.

“This is such an exciting opportunity. I am proud to be joining the Senior Management Team and look forward to delivering our ambitious strategy,” commented Anna Malloy, Communications and Marketing Director.

She added: “The Port of Milford Haven is playing a key role in the transition of South-West Wales’ economy to a decarbonised future. A beautiful place, with great people, that I am privileged to call my home.”

Community

First deadlines met following enforcement action at landfill site

Published

5 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE first set of deadlines for the completion of actions to tackle the ongoing odour issues at Withyhedge Landfill in Pembrokeshire have been met, one week on following the issuing of further enforcement action by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

NRW issued site operator Resources Management UK Ltd (RML) with a further Regulation 36 Enforcement Notice on Thursday 18 April.

This outlined a series of actions to be completed by specified deadlines to address the ongoing odour and landfill gas emission issues at the site.

During the latest site inspection which took place yesterday (Thursday 25 April), NRW was able to confirm that three actions have been completed – two ahead of the imposed deadlines.

The operator has installed 24 pin wells, which have been driven into the waste in the lower section of the cell identified as causing the odour issues (Cell 8). These have also been connected to the landfill gas extraction system.

Capping material has been placed over the same area of the cell and welded to the basal liner to encapsulate gas in this area, allowing for extraction by the pin wells and four horizontal gas wells, which were previously installed.

While progress is being made, NRW officers detected strong landfill gas odours during an offsite assessment on Wednesday (24 April) in Poyston Cross and Crundale. Weather conditions this week appear to have led to a wider spread of landfill gas to surrounding areas, not solely linked to wind direction.

NRW odour assessments follow a set route around the landfill, with designated survey spots, identified to enable consistency of assessment and reporting. This is essential to ensure the regulatory and enforcement responses where there is offsite odour attributed to the landfill is robust.

The remaining Regulation 36 Notice actions will require significant effort by RML to ensure they are completed on time and NRW continues to closely monitor progress.

Clare Pillman, Chief Executive of NRW, met with representatives from NRW’s South West Industry Regulation Team and Pembrokeshire County Council during a visit to Pembrokeshire on Thursday 25 April.

Clare Pillman, Chief Executive, Natural Resources Wales, said: “While visiting the area surrounding Withyhedge Landfill with our regulatory team and partners from Pembrokeshire County Council this week, I was able to see and hear for myself just what people living and working in these communities have had to endure as a result of the odour issues from the site.

“What they have been experiencing is unacceptable and our officers have been working tirelessly alongside colleagues at Pembrokeshire County Council to ensure the operator gets this under control as quickly as possible. While it was clear that a lot of work has been done on site, there is still more to do to ensure they address all the actions set out in the enforcement notice.

“We want to make sure that happens, and are exploring every option together with Pembrokeshire County Council to ensure the operator works quickly to resolve the issues which are clearly affecting the quality of life of people in these communities.”

Huwel Manley, Head of South West Operations, said: “While we are reassured that action is being carried out by the operators at Withyhedge Landfill with a sense of urgency, we are continuing our regulatory presence on site to ensure the operator’s focus remains on tackling the issues that will address the continuing odour issues being experienced by surrounding communities.

“We will be closely monitoring progress over the coming days and weeks to ensure the operator complies with all the actions set out in Notice by 14 May. If they are not met, we will pursue additional enforcement action where appropriate.”

NRW requests that instances of odour from the landfill continue to be reported via this dedicated form: https://bit.ly/reportasmellwithyhedge or by calling 0300 065 3000.

Please report odours at the time of them being experienced, rather than historically. Reporting odours in a timely manner will help guide the work of partners more effectively, particularly in the further development of air quality monitoring.

These photos taken on 16 April and 25 April show the progress of capping works on cell 8. Pin wells are visible in both images. These have been connected to the landfill gas extraction system and are extracting gas from the waste mass.

Community

Milford Haven’s war memorial is 100 years old today

Published

6 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE Milford Haven War Memorial, a significant landmark commemorating the fallen heroes of World Wars and subsequent conflicts, marks its 100th anniversary today.

The memorial, which was inaugurated on April 26, 1924 by the Venerable the Archdeacon of St Davids, remains a poignant symbol of sacrifice and hope for peace.

Constructed from 1923 to 1924, the memorial consists of a striking assembly of pink granite and white marble statues that were sculpted in Italy.

Representing the Army, Navy, and Air Force, these life-size statues stand on an unpolished three-step plinth below a main pedestal. A soldier faces west and a sailor east, with an airman atop the central column, surveying the skies.

The names and inscriptions of the fallen are carved into the polished granite shaft, meticulously supervised by surveyor J.P. Morgan with contractor E. Jones of Llanybydder.

Located on Hamolton Terrace with views over the Milford Haven waterway, the memorial is a freestanding structure in an external, roadside setting. It features a serviceman/woman sculpture in marble and Portland stone, set on a concrete base surrounded by railings. Inscribed plaques honour those who served in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, and the conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2009.

The memorial lists the names of 239 men who perished in the First World War on its polished grey granite faces. The Second World War claimed 157 lives from this community, whose names are recorded on bronze plaques around the base. Notably, the memorial also honours one serviceman who fell during the Korean War and another who was killed in Iraq in 2007.

The Milford Haven War Memorial stands not only as a historical monument but also as an enduring reminder of the costs of war and the community’s ongoing commitment to peace.

As the town reflects on a century of remembrance, the hope remains that future generations will continue to cherish and learn from the lessons of the past.