A PETITION call for a public commitment to save Pembrokeshire’s River Cleddau which has attracted more than 2,200 signatures, has been backed by councillors.

The e-petition on Pembrokeshire County Council’s own website, started by James Harrison-Allen, said: “We call on Pembrokeshire County Council to create and enact a Clean Rivers Policy to restore the Cleddau to good health after decades of neglect and degradation.

“The Cleddau flows through the heart of Pembrokeshire, including our county town, and is the foundation for Pembrokeshire’s prosperity. The river is failing, and we need to act now to save it from irreversible decline.

“What’s the problem? The Cleddau rivers and estuary are the worst (and worsening) polluted SAC (Special Area of Conservation) designated rivers in Wales; worse even than the Wye and the Usk (NRW Water Assessment Report 2024), and considerably worse than the neighbouring Towy and Teifi.

“Damaging impacts on Pembrokeshire’s economy, public health and the natural environment. Ineffective regulation; monitoring, responding, policing, enforcement and prosecutions. What should PCC be doing to address this? Make a formal, public commitment to cleaning up the Cleddau. Make the health of the Cleddau central.”

The now closed e-petition attracted 2,238 signatures; any petition of more than 500 being heard at full council, with members of the March meeting hearing the call from Mr Harrison-Allen.

Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller said he was happy to support “the principal ask to make a public commitment to cleaning up the river,” stressing that while primary responsibility lay with Natural Resources Wales, the council still had an important part to play, adding that measures at improving its quality were already underway.

Moving the petition be referred to the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Di Clements stressed its “special place” quality.

Members unanimously agreed the petition be referred to the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee for adding to its forward work programme for the June meeting.

Last year, Henry Tufnell, MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, called for “urgent” action to tackle the poor state of the River Cleddau when he chaired a discussion bringing together key stakeholders, environmental experts, and community voices to address the issues surrounding water quality and pollution.

The panel event, organised by local river action group The Cleddau Project, covered topics including pollution sources, enforcement failures, and potential solutions to improve the river’s health.

CHANGES to previously-approved plans to rebuild a fire-ravaged Pembrokeshire seaside pub have been refused, in part due to fears they could place a protected seabird species at “significant risk of injury or death”.

In an application to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Builders Crown Ltd, through agent A.D Architectural Design Consultants Ltd, sought a variation of a 2024-approved scheme for alterations and refurbishment works to the Duke of Edinburgh Inn, Newgale, following a severe fire earlier that year.

The amendments sought in the latest application included enlarging the first-floor level of accommodation and various changes to fenestration and external access.

The Duke of Edinburgh was severely damaged during a blaze in the early hours of January 16, 2024.

The fire burned through the roof of the two-storey building which consisted of the ground floor pub with accommodation above, causing significant damage.

It took fire crews from St Davids, Haverfordwest, Milford Haven and Fishguard crews around six hours to bring the blaze under control.

Local community council Nolton and Roch supported the proposed works to the pub approved in 2024, describing The Duke of Edinburgh as “synonymous to Newgale”.

Since that overall approval, the amendment scheme was submitted, but officers recommended those proposed changes be refused, saying they were “considered by officers to be unsympathetic to the landscape and seascape and would prove to be excessive in bulk due to the proposed first-floor balconies and other associated exterior alterations”.

A report added: “The increase in fenestration and the proposed glass frontage for The Duke of Edinburgh Inn would likely cause detrimental impacts on Manx Shearwater populations through excessive light pollution, potentially disorienting protected species and putting them at significant risk of injury or death. The proposed development is considered to have a significant adverse impact on design, scale, light pollution, and biodiversity.”

It said both the park’s ecologist and the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales had “significant concerns” about the impact on the protested species, with artificial light “known to attract seabirds, potentially leading to grounding events,” adding: “The additional roof lights, the level of glazing, and the glass frontage of the proposed development are major concerns because they increase the amount of artificial light on the site.”

Skomer and Skokholm and Seas off Pembrokeshire Special Protection Area (SPA) and the Skomer Island and Middleholm SSSI and the Skokholm Island SSSI support the largest concentration of breeding seabirds in England and Wales and hold the largest breeding colony of Manx Shearwater on earth, approximately 60 per cent of the world population, the report said.

Fledgling Manx Shearwaters can be disorientated by excessive light pollution resulting in collisions with structures and the birds becoming grounded, which can result in a loss of life.

The amendment application was refused on the grounds “the excessive scale and elevated nature of the proposed fenestration will potentially cause significant light pollution that would have a detrimental impact on Manx Shearwater populations by disorienting them and putting them at significant risk of injury or death,” and the proposal “will have a significant overbearing impact on the visual amenity of this site and its surrounding landscape”.

Mid and West Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) immediately undertook a fire investigation to determine the cause of the 2024 fire, with no suspicious circumstances found.

Earlier this year, The Duke of Edinburgh Inn was placed on the market through estate agent Sidney Phillips with a guide price of £325,000.

AN APPEAL against a refusal of a call to convert an ‘unviable’ former Pembrokeshire village pub to a house has been lodged.

In a partly retrospective application refused by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in July 2025, Ms G Key, through agent Evans Banks Planning Limited, sought permission for the conversion of the former Taberna Inn and associated flat, Herbrandston Village, Milford Haven, to one residential dwelling.

Work started in March 2021 but has not been finished.

A supporting statement through the agent said: “We understand that the property was purchased by the applicant in November 2020 and operated for four months as a public house on the ground floor.

“The property has therefore remained closed as a public house since that date and only used for residential purposes by the applicant. This current application therefore seeks to regularise the situation and enable the properly to be used as a single residential dwelling.”

It says the loss of the pub to the village will not be felt as strongly as elsewhere as Herbrandston has an alternative venue, Herbrandston Hub, which opened in February 2020, and acts a successful community venue and centre for the settlement’s sports teams.

It adds: “The Pandemic had and continues to have many impacts on people’s lives and also their livelihoods, no more so than in the leisure and hospitality industries. With socialising patterns having now changed, many village public houses have found it impossible to continue to operate at anywhere near a viable level.”

Local community council Hebrandston objected to the proposal on the grounds the village has already lost amenities in recent years, with the community hub only open part-time.

The application was refused on grounds including it would “result in the unacceptable loss of an existing community facility,” and “the applicant has failed to demonstrate the potential for continued use of the facility as unviable”.

Since that refusal an appeal has been lodged with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) by the applicant.

The applicant, in appealing, says she bought the former pub in “a closed and near condemned condition” with it not cost-effective to keep running as a pub, adding it would not reopen as a pub under her ownership.

The appeal will be considered at a later date.