A RESPONSE from the UK Government has failed to provide any clarity over whether Castlemartin Training Camp – or the former Penally camp – is being considered for use as asylum accommodation.

Samuel Kurtz MS had written to the Home Secretary on 4 and 13 November, seeking assurances for local residents following growing speculation about the use of military sites. A reply dated Wednesday, November 26, from Alex Norris MP, the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, confirms that the Home Office is assessing “a range of more appropriate sites including disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites” as part of its plan to close asylum hotels.

However, the minister refused to confirm which locations are under review, stating that the Home Office “does not disclose information about accommodation sites which may or may not be utilised to the general public.”

The Pembrokeshire MS said the lack of detail leaves rural communities without the assurances they need.

Defence concerns over Castlemartin

Mr Kurtz said Castlemartin is a vital strategic asset and must remain fully available for the Armed Forces, particularly as it is one of the UK’s few live tank-firing ranges.

He warned that, at a time of international instability, any repurposing of the site would be inappropriate and would undermine crucial training capability for both UK forces and NATO partners.

Call for transparency

Mr Kurtz has vowed to continue pressing UK ministers for:

• a clear statement on whether Castlemartin is under consideration
• full consultation with local representatives and residents
• assurances that rural communities will not be excluded from the decision-making process

He said residents deserve openness and certainty, especially given Pembrokeshire’s previous experience when Penally was used as an asylum facility with little warning.

Ongoing concern

The Home Office letter states that all accommodation sites will be required to meet safety, security and wellbeing standards, and decisions will be taken on a “site-by-site basis”. But it offers no reassurance regarding Pembrokeshire specifically.

Mr Kurtz is urging local people to continue sharing concerns with him as he seeks further answers from the UK Government.

Find comes months after Russian vessel monitored off Pembrokeshire coast

A SUSPECTED Russian sonobuoy – the type used to track submarine movements – has been recovered from the seabed off Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, just months after a notorious Russian surveillance ship was monitored operating off the Welsh coast.

Volunteer divers from Neptune’s Army of Rubbish Cleaners (NARC) made the discovery on Saturday, November 15, during one of their routine seabed clean-ups near Wooltack Point. The cylindrical device, thick with barnacles and marine growth, appears consistent with equipment used by foreign militaries for underwater monitoring. The team also removed several discarded fishing weights from the conservation area.

Sonobuoys are normally deployed from aircraft and are used to detect submarine activity. Some operate passively by listening for acoustic signatures through hydrophones, while others emit sound pulses and analyse returning echoes before transmitting data back to aircraft or nearby vessels.

The object has now been handed to the relevant authorities for formal assessment.

Heightened tensions at sea

The timing of the discovery has sharpened local concerns, coming in the same week Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed that the Russian spy ship Yantar has been operating on the edge of UK territorial waters.

RAF pilots monitoring the vessel reported that lasers were directed at their aircraft – an action Mr Healey described as “deeply dangerous”. He added that the UK has “military options ready” should the vessel head further south.

Yantar is known within NATO for its deep-sea intelligence capabilities, including the ability to locate, map and potentially tamper with critical undersea infrastructure. This includes fibre-optic communications cables, energy pipelines and data routes vital to the UK’s economy and national security.

It is the second time this year the vessel has entered wider UK waters. In July 2025, Yantar was tracked off the Pembrokeshire coast, prompting RAF surveillance flights and a Royal Navy frigate to be dispatched to shadow it. At the time, defence officials told The Herald the ship was “lingering unusually close to sensitive undersea cables”.

Local concerns and unanswered questions

While the origins of the object discovered off Skomer have not yet been confirmed, its presence near a protected Welsh marine reserve has raised eyebrows among security specialists.

Experts note that sonobuoys can be lost or abandoned during military exercises, and it is not yet clear whether the device is Russian, British or from any other nation. However, the combination of recent Russian naval behaviour, the location of the find and the increasing strategic focus on undersea infrastructure makes the discovery particularly notable.

Skomer and the surrounding waters form one of Wales’ most important marine conservation zones, attracting thousands of visitors and researchers every year. The area is protected for its seabird colonies, grey seals and rich underwater habitats.

NARC, which has removed more than 1,000 tonnes of debris from Welsh waters over the past two decades, say they will continue their regular programme of clean-ups to protect the site from hazards.

A spokesperson for the group said further details about the recovered device will be released once authorities have completed their analysis.

Plans for a munitions factory on a gas pipeline in Milford Haven show “contempt for Wales”, say campaigners

CAMPAIGNERS have criticised the UK Government’s announcement that Milford Haven is being considered as a potential site for a new military munitions plant, warning that it would increase militarisation in Wales and place communities at unnecessary risk.

PARC Against DARC – the group established in 2024 to oppose the proposed US-run Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) site at Brawdy – says it “categorically opposes” any further expansion of military infrastructure in Wales. The group argues that the proposed factory is “unwanted, unnecessary, and bad for the area”.

In a strongly worded statement, the campaign said: “PARC Against DARC is categorically against increased military spending at the behest of the US and Trump. We are against the rush to war with Russia, but even more so against the bigger risk of inciting a whole new Cold War with China.”

The campaign says the UK is prioritising military investment over diplomatic solutions, while repeatedly choosing Wales as a location for military installations.

“At a time when political solutions to conflict are needed more than ever, the UK Labour government always seems to have the money to find yet another excuse to paint a military target on Wales’s back… It is no coincidence to us that they rarely seem to find a reason to put many of them in the nicer parts of the South of England, but they’re happy to push for arms factories and massive radar farms in some of the most beautiful parts of our country.”

The group also questioned the Defence Secretary’s claim that the project could create around 1,000 jobs across 13 UK sites.

“John Healey’s suggested 1,000 jobs across 13 sites is not a very significant number of jobs at all for the privilege of making Milford Haven—which sits on the UK’s largest high-pressure gas pipeline and is known for a nearby major oil refinery—into even more of a target.”

The statement continues: “We find it especially abhorrent that Defence Secretary John Healey is now parroting the US’s aggressive rhetoric, using phrases such as ‘war-fighting readiness’ when a nation’s priority should always be to strive towards maintaining peace.”

“Have we learned nothing from the aggressive colonial wars of Iraq or Afghanistan? Hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of the UK propping up US aggression purely for the sake of US supremacy and domination of oil and resources.”

PARC Against DARC argues that a munitions factory will not benefit the local area:

“We do not need a US-run DARC space wars radar in Pembrokeshire, and a munitions factory in Milford Haven would bring a pitiful number of jobs for how much of a military target it would make a town on a high-pressure gas pipeline. It would bring absolutely nothing positive to the area.”

Campaigners say military spending is the least effective form of public investment: “After fifteen years of austerity and cuts to our social infrastructure, we need investment in public services and to reverse the cost-of-living crisis far more than we need to siphon yet more profits to arms companies.”

They also highlight environmental concerns: “Agitation for war is an extremely polluting and high-carbon exercise. To tackle the climate emergency and provide high-skilled, secure jobs in Pembrokeshire we need massive investment in green jobs as part of a coherent green industrial strategy.”

On global tensions, the campaign states: “The rhetoric coming from our leaders seems to be attempting to manufacture a consensus view that China is a huge global threat… but when you consider that the US has over 750 military bases around the world where China has none, it begs the question: who are the real aggressors here?”

Evidence of some political support

PARC Against DARC said that its campaign has gained significant political traction. A Statement of Opinion opposing the radar site has been signed by a third of Senedd Members, while an Early Day Motion in Westminster has attracted cross-party backing.

Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have publicly stated their opposition to both the DARC radar and any munitions factory in Milford Haven. Campaigners say they are prepared to challenge any planning application “if ever submitted”.

They add that the 2026 Senedd elections – with proportional representation, a larger Welsh Parliament and votes for 16–18 year olds – could result in a progressive coalition “far less sympathetic to DARC or any further militarism of Wales”.

Images: Martin Cavaney