News
AM questions schools shakeup meeting validity

Expressing concerns: Paul Davies AM
LOCAL Assembly Member Paul Davies is questioning the validity of the Extraordinary Council at County Hall on the January 29, 2015.
The AM is voicing concerns that Pembrokeshire County Council may have not complied with the new School Organisation Code set out under the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013.
Mr Davies said: “I want to see an education service in Pembrokeshire that’s fit for purpose and delivers real outcomes for pupils across the County. Any shake up of the current service provision must follow the correct procedures and engage with local people and their elected representatives. I am not convinced that this is the case, and I have therefore written to the Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council, following concerns that the extraordinary council meeting may be invalid.”
The AM added: “I have asked for evidence that the Council have complied with the new School Organisation Code and that each of the proposals have met the criteria. In light of these circumstances, I believe it’s only appropriate that the meeting is called off until robust evidence is provided to demonstrate that the Council has complied with the Code.”
Responding to the statement by Paul Davies AM, the Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Jamie Adams, said: “I am pleased that Paul supports our ambition for an ‘education service that’s fit for purpose and delivers real outcomes for pupils across the County’.
“However in relation to his concerns around the process we have followed, he is mistaken. We have carried out extensive informal consultation prior to tomorrow’s meeting which will determine the options that will then be subject to statutory formal consultation.”

Cllr Jamie Adams
Cllr Adams continued: “I have written to Paul to confirm that the suggestion that we have not complied with the School Organisation Code is incorrect.”
An examination of the relevant legislation indicates that the Council must jump through a considerable number of hoops before getting to the point where it is ready to move forward with its radical plans for the future of secondary education.
The stage which the Council appears to have reached at this point is that, having completed a review, it now seeks to move forward with a formal consultation process.
The statutory consultation period is 42 days of which 20 must be school term days. After that period, the Council must publish consultation report. Within 13 weeks of the end of the period allowed for responses (and in any event prior to publication of the proposals), the Council must publish a consultation report. In addition, once the Council decides to proceed with a proposal they must publish the proposal by way of statutory notice.
Having published its proposal, the 2013 Act requires that anyone wishing to make objections to a school organisation proposal has the opportunity to do so. To be considered as statutory objections, objections must be made in writing or by email, and sent to the proposer within 28 days of the date on which the proposal was published.
In addition the Council must consult with children and young people affected by the changes and with schools similarly affected. This would appear to mean that every school in the county will need to be consulted as the plans reveal a significant change to post-16 education in Pembrokeshire, with Pembrokeshire College being ultimately responsible for its provision.
The Council appears to have based its current position by reference to previous ‘informal’ consultations predating the review’s start in October 2014. The School Organisation Code states: “From time to time proposers will have conducted ‘informal’ consultation with particular stakeholders at an earlier stage in the development of proposals. Such consultation must not be seen as a substitute for any part of the formal consultation processes.”
News
SpaceX rocket launch spotted in skies above Pembrokeshire

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.
News
Woman found guilty of threatening neighbour on Pembrokeshire housing estate

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.
News
World-class art exhibition opens at Pembrokeshire gallery

An exciting new art exhibition has opened in a major Pembrokeshire gallery, showcasing the work of some of the most outstanding contemporary Welsh and international artists.
The Wales Contemporary/Cymry Gyfoes exhibition, founded by Milford Haven’s ‘Waterfront Gallery in 2019 and sponsored by the Port of Milford Haven, has become a significant platform for artistic talent, featuring a stunning array of contemporary artworks from across the globe.
Now in its fifth year, Wales Contemporary/Cymru Gyfoes offers artists the opportunity to showcase their work in both central London and Milford Haven, through two and three-dimensional works. And this year, the total prize fund is a hefty £15,000.
After opening last month with a prize giving ceremony at the Garrison Chapel, Chelsea Barracks, London, the exhibition has now transferred to the Waterfront Gallery in Milford Haven, where selection is now open for the Welsh Public Choice Prize, which will be announced at a closing event on May 17. Visitors to the Waterfront Gallery are invited to vote for their favourite piece, and the most popular choice will receive a prize of £1,000.
This year’s competition saw an overwhelming 1,600 entries from over 800 artists, with works spanning painting, sculpture, drawing, print, ceramics, textiles and glass. An accomplished panel of judges, including painter Ian H Watkins, artist Kelvin Okafor and print maker Katherine Jones RA, shortlisted works for the exhibition and selected winners for the Graham Sutherland Prize, two dimensional, three-dimensional, Welsh and Pembrokeshire pieces.
“We’re delighted to sponsor the Wales Contemporary exhibition for the fifth year and celebrate our longstanding support of the Waterfront Gallery, to bring world-class artwork to Milford Haven,” said Lucy Wonnacott, who is head of communications and marketing at Port of Milford Haven.
“This year’s exhibition really is stunning, and we hope the entries continue to inspire local and aspiring artists to immerse themselves in the culture and creativity that is on display.”
The exhibition opened on March 21 and runs until May 17. The Waterfront Gallery is open between 10.30 am and 4 pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and admission is free.
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Hayley Wood
January 28, 2015 at 7:57 pm
I would like to know what Cllr Jamie Adams definition is regarding \’extensive?\’