£2 million funding and new expert group to lead the next phase

THE WELSH GOVERNMENT has announced new steps to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals, including £2 million in funding and the creation of a new expert group to guide future work.

The announcement follows the final review of the 2019–2024 AMR in Animals and the Environment Implementation Plan, Wales’ first coordinated approach to tackling resistance in the animal and environmental sectors.

A new Wales AMR Animal Health Group has been set up to provide expert advice and support the development of the next five-year plan. The new strategy – the Animal AMR Control Plan for Wales (2025–2029) – will be aligned with the UK National Action Plan and continue to follow a ‘One Health’ approach, linking public health, animal health and the environment.

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, said:
“To support our plans, I have awarded £2 million of funding to the Arwain DGC (Defnydd Gwrthfaicrobaidd Cyfrifol) consortium.
“Arwain have a proven track record in delivering effective controls. This new phase will allow us to continue positioning Wales as a world leader in tackling AMR and promoting the responsible use of antibiotics.
“This investment will support vital monitoring, training and engagement work, helping to make sure antibiotics remain effective for future generations.”

The funding will support phase three of the Arwain programme, which will include:

Continuing the Veterinary Prescribing Champions Network across 44 Welsh veterinary practices

Collecting antimicrobial usage data from at least 4,500 Welsh farms

On-farm sampling to monitor AMR in cattle and sheep

Creating a new AMR Academy to provide training for vets and farmers

Wales’ Chief Veterinary Officer, Richard Irvine, said the risks of antimicrobial resistance continue to grow: “The effects of AMR are disruptive and costly, not just for animal keepers and vets, but for wider society.
“Drug-resistant organisms pose direct risks to both animals and people, and can spread through the environment. That’s why our One Health approach is so important.”

The Welsh Government said tackling AMR is not something government can do alone, and urged vets and animal keepers to work together to help meet Wales’ targets on antimicrobial resistance.

The people of Pembrokeshire were left scratching their heads last night (Monday, March 24), when an unexplained orb appeared in the skies at around 8pm.

The glow was captured by reader Ioan Ward in the skies above Rosemarket, however the spectre was widely visible in other parts of Wales and the UK.

The light, which appeared to be spiralling, prompted a flurry of speculation on social media with suggestions that it could have been urban fuel ejected from the SpaceX rocket launch in the US.

The Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk’s space company lifted off around 13:50 local time in Florida (17:50 GMT) on a classified US government mission.

After launching into space, it releases what is called its payload – whatever it is carrying, such as a satellite, to complete its mission – which continues its journey into space.

The rocket then turns back around towards Earth. As it does, it ejects any leftover fuel, which freezes instantly due to the altitude in a spiral pattern caused by the rocket’s movement.

Light is then reflected off the frozen fuel, making it visible on Earth.

SpaceX said on X that the launch was carried out on behalf of the US government National Reconnaissance Office mission. The Kennedy Space Center also said on X the launch was a classified mission for that office.

A heated row between neighbours has reached the courts this week after a former  Lamphey resident screamed at her neighbour to ‘f*** off back to England’.

“Hearing the foul language that she used towards me – language  that everyone in the street could hear – was very distressing,” said the  70-year-old victim, Linda McCann as she gave  evidence during  the trial of Lisa Thomas.

“Lisa  told me to f*** off back to England and I told her that she was being racist again.  And that’s not nice.”

Matters came to a head at approximately 2 pm on August 2, 2024, after  Mrs Linda McCann and her husband returned from a shopping trip to Iceland, Milford Haven.  As the couple began unloading bags of frozen food into a freezer situated in their garden shed in Honeyhill Grove, Lamphey, they heard  loud  banging noises,  followed by shouting,  coming from Lisa Thomas’ next door property.

“I came outside to find out what it was, and thought my neighbor had possibly  thrown a glass bottle or something at my shed,” Linda McCann told Haverfordwest magistrates during Monday’s trial.

“But then I could see that it was shingle that had been thrown from Lisa’s  landing window.  “Lisa  then opened the window and shouted stuff out at me.”

CCTV footage captured by Mrs McCann’s motion sensored camera  was played to the court, during which Thomas could be heard shouting “You want to stick your fingers up at my 11-year-old daughter, you stupid old c***?  You stupid little nonce.  

“F*** off back to Birmingham and f*** off back to England.”

But  Thomas, 34, claimed it was Mrs McCann who had started the incident.

“I’d lived in that property for ten years and there had never been any issues, until the McCann’s arrived around three years ago,” she said.

“That afternoon I was in the living room and my daughter was upstairs in the landing window. My daughter  was paranoid about the neighbours, and it could have been her that threw the stones or it could have been a bird.  I didn’t see.

But it wasn’ me.”

She denied usually racially aggravated behaviour towards Mrs McCann, stating that her mother was a native of Yorkshire.

“And sometimes I speak myself, with a slight Yorkshire twang,” she said,

Lisa Thomas went on to say that she heard her daughter shouting that Linda McCann was making gestures at her from her garden.

“Then I heard Linda shout ‘When are you lot going to f*** off and move?’

“I’m no angel and I’m not portraying myself to be, but there was something that made me react in this way.  I’m not allowing my daughter to be victimised, but that’s what was happening that day.

“I’ve begged Dyfed-Powys Police to serve notices on everybody, but it’s always just me.  All my life I’ve been autistic and  pushed to one side and it’s always me who’s been left to deal with stuff by myself.”

Thomas, of Plas Peregrine, Steynton, denied causing racially aggravated intentional harassment to Mrs McCann, and of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

She pleaded guilty to a third charge of failing to comply with a community protection notice.

After considering the evidence, Thomas was found guilty of making threatening, abusive or insulting words like to cause harassment or distress.  She was found not guilty of  causing racially aggravated intentional harassment.

Magistrates adjourned sentencing to April 15 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service.  An interim restraining order was imposed, preventing Thomas from having any contact with Linda McCann.