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Shameful display at full council meeting

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county hall• Angry exchanges at full council
• Grant investigation panel blocked
• Pugh and Adams turn on Stoddart

THE COUNCIL CHAMBER was the scene for a series of bitter and personal recriminations made by members of the Cabinet against Councillors seeking information on the conduct of two grant schemes in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock.

In what appeared to be a concerted effort by the controlling IPPG to undermine those seeking to examine information on how the Council had administered large amounts of public money, Council Leader Jamie Adams and Cabinet member David Pugh were permitted by Chair Arwyn Williams to suggest that Labour leader Paul Miller was a puppet having his strings pulled while Independent Councillor Mike Stoddart was pursuing a hidden agenda and had misrepresented important data.

Miller requests balanced approach In the face of continuing controversy over the Council’s administration of the grant schemes, Cllr Miller made an appeal that a politically balanced panel be formed to look at the way money has been allocated by the County Council.

Cllr Miller told the members: “If funds controlled by this council have in some way been misappropriated then this needs to be looked at. I accept in the recommendation that the audit committee will review this but that is not till the end of February.

“I want a politically balancedpanel to investigate this, nothing is to be feared.

“I am not pushing an opinion on what has or hasn’t happened. This is the quickest way to get to the facts.” Adams attacks Miller Flanked by Cllr Brian Hall, Leader Jamie Adams said:

“Cllr. Miller is quite correct, in his supporting submission, that much has been said by the grant schemes in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock. I concurred that much has been said, but I comment to the chamber: is that much has been said by one person. Who is leading the agenda of the Labour group? It seems to me, Chair that Cllr. Miller is acting in a way that is if you like, strings are being pulled by someone else.

“I would suggest the way that the authority could look to the facts is before us and within our control. The Audit Committee is politically balanced, there are six members. The Audit Committee are in a position to determine its own investigation. The recommendation is clear in that, and on that basis I move the recommendation.

Cllr Mike Stoddart criticised Jamie Adams’ personal attack on the Labour leader:

“The idea that I may be pulling Cllr Miller’s strings is ridiculous. I have little contact with him. He is a highlyeducated man capable of pulling hisown strings!

“In Cabinet last week, Cllr Adams made a slur against me, and now he is attacking Cllr Miller. He needs to deal with the arguments. It’s time to play the ball and not the man.”

Paul Miller continued: “In terms of the Audit Committee the time scales are one of my concerns. I think that it’s critical in restoring the faith of grant funders and the public. All I can say is that I have had 14 phone calls. If he thinks that Cllr Stoddard is the only one interested in this grant scheme he is wrong. I am not going to get involved in the nasty political game that Cllr Adams wants to play. All I know is that my motion gets things done in the quickest way possible.”

After a vote, the Council voted to remit the matter to the Audit Committee in February and Cllr Miller’s motion failed. Pugh continues attack on Stoddart.

The Council then considered Cllr Mike Stoddart’s motion to permit Councillors to inspect the information in confidence.

Responding for the IPPG, Cllr David Pugh suggested that Cllr Stoddart had made leaks to the media and derided Cllr Stoddart’s “selfproclaimed” expertise. He suggested that Cllr Stoddart’s calculations were wrong and the product of “sheer incompetence on his behalf … comparisons on different projects are both wrong and extremely misleading…” Apparently forgetting the major redevelopment scheme in Meyrick Street, Pembroke Dock approved by the Council, Cllr Pugh suggested, “This unseemly campaign has driven away investors.”

Councillor Pugh’s harangue continued amid rising boos, when he suggested that:
“Cllr Stoddart reminds me of Don Quixote, who in his madness tilted awindmills. Sancho was his sidekick, I will leave it to members to work out who Cllr Stoddart’s sidekick is.”

Councillor Paul Miller, interrupting, asked Cllr. Arwyn Williams:

“What on earth is this nonsense? Can you do your job, please, Chair?” Kilmister leads calls for “transparency” Cllr Bob Kilmister of the newlyformed Pembrokeshire Alliance Group followed Cllr Pugh, saying: “I attended cabinet. I witnessed a highly unprofessional spectacle, clear to all to see. The conduct displayed at the meeting has brought the council into disrepute. The issue of this motion was not addressed, if we believe in openness and transparency. Easy words, but we are not walking the walk. If any councillors break the confidence they are allowed they clearly break the code of conduct and are open to sanction, serious sanction. If we have a need to know we have a right to information. You can dispute what Councillor Stoddard says, but if he has the information he can come to a proper conclusion and therefore there is a real risk that we are getting innuendo and intrigue as a result of not giving him information. We have a common law right and need to know. Officers can see documents but councillors cannot. I think that this argument is clearly made.”

Cllr Michael Williams from Plaid Cymru told the full Council:

“I wasn’t at the cabinet meeting but what I read in the press was shameful. Cllr Pugh, your outburst this morning was not much better than the Leader shouting people down. Cllr Pugh made a direct accusation that investors have been driven way. But who? That’s a figment of his imagination.

Publish the figures, that would make everyone happy. Publish all the documents not ridiculously redacted reports. Openness and accountability. The ruling group should realise that our job is to hold to account and that they are making that difficult in the way they are operating.

Pembroke Dock Councillor Brian Hall, who has publicly denied any links with developer Cathal McCosker, said:

“The majority of people in Pembroke Dock are delighted with what the grants have done for the town. Because of these innuendos there is a possibility that this could be withdrawn.”

East Williamston Councillor Jacob Williams said:

“There has been enough evidence to suggest that members need to see this information. Cllr Pugh at cabinet raised his voice against Stoddard and it was embarrassing. For Cllr Stoddard to admit errors or mistakes, we need to know that he is wrong.”

Cllr David Lloyd told the meeting:

“We have no greater duty thanto protect the integrity of public expenditure. We can spend a considerable amount of time talking about something I know nothing about. Corruption destroys the organisation which it infests. There is no way we can solve this problem in an adversarial way. May I ask you to be at your best and publish these documents and let’s get to the bottom of it for the good of the people of Pembrokeshire?”

Cllr David Bryan said:

“I, too, was at the cabinet meeting. I was ashamed and embarrassed. The people need to know that we have got control what is going on at Pembrokeshire County Council.”

Senior IPPG member, Cllr John Allen-Mirehouse opposed the motion with a further attack on Mike Stoddart:

“We are losing sight of a key issue. Cllr Stoddard has published that there is impropriety and therefore it should be looked into. He has not produced any actual facts and facts are what we need to go on. I would say to Paul Miller and Cllr Stoddard if there are facts tell us. He (Cllr Stoddart) won’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

Pembroke Dock Labour Councillor, Alison Lee, said

“I have found it difficult to get information. How can we fulfil our functions without it? The deck is stacked against those seeking to scrutinise the material. Cllr Mirehouse says we haven’t provided facts, but we cannot get at them. I don’t see what the authority has to lose by the release of this information.”

IPPG suggest calling the Police The Chair, IPPG member Arwyn Williams, then allowed five IPPG members, Jamie Adams, David Simpson, Stephen Joseph, Sue Perkins and Simon Hancock to close the debate: Cllr Perkins told the meeting that she has heard no complaints about the grant scheme and its administration Cllr David Simpson assured members that public scrutiny by them was unnecessary because Cllr David Pugh had discussed any concerns with him and he had also spoken to council officers responsible for the schemes. Cllr. Adams re-iterated his position that the proper forum for scrutiny was the Audit Committee and suggested that Cllr Stoddart should report his allegations to the Police. Spontaneously echoing their leader’s suggestion, Cllrs Joseph and Hancock also suggested reporting the matter to the local constabulary.

Cllr Mike Stoddard asked for a recorded vote of the decision. 32 members voted against the motion to allow Councillors access to information on how public money had been spent and 27 voted in favour.

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Business

Stephen Crabb leads inquiry on retaining community bank services  

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PRESELI Pembrokeshire MP, and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee Stephen Crabb is leading an inquiry in Parliament that will investigate the closure of high street banks in Wales, as well as access to cash.

In November 2023, Pembrokeshire saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in St Davids, and in the coming months both Barclays Bank and Halifax in Haverfordwest are set to close. In recent years, Wales has experienced a rapid decline in the number of high street banking services available to the public. Already in 2024, 23 high street bank closures have been announced in Wales, while automated teller machines (ATMs) declined by nearly a quarter between 2018 and 2023.

The Committee willconsider how declining high street banking services are impacting vulnerable people and small businesses across Wales, who are often more reliant on cash than digital banking. It will also examine how Wales is being affected by the loss of high street bank services, and whether the problem is worse in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Mr Crabb is a staunch advocate for retaining community banking facilities, especially in rural communities like Pembrokeshire where many local branches remain the only source of face-to-face banking provision for miles.

Recently Mr Crabb challenged Barclays Bank senior management on their decision to close the bank branch in Haverfordwest– a move that will see Barclays not only pull out of the county town, but means they won’t have a branch left anywhere in Pembrokeshire. He has also engaged with LINK – the UK’s largest cash machine network – and continues to campaign on the basis that a Banking Hub is established and that ATM machines should be retained or installed, especially in areas worst affected by the closures.  

Following the launch of the inquiry, MP Crabb added: “It is really sad to see so many banks across Wales closing as online banking grows in popularity. Despite the advantages of online banking, for a rural community with an ageing population like Pembrokeshire, bank branches hold huge importance as they offer face-to-face customer service.”

“I am acutely aware of the inconvenience that the bank closures locally have already caused following hundreds of replies from constituents to my ‘online banking survey’ ”

“I am looking forward to gathering further evidence on this subject through the committee’s inquiry, and will continue to put pressure on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate alternative provisions are made through the establishment of banking hubs as well as the instalment of ATM machines where necessary.”

“In this inquiry, we are particularly keen to hear from those likely to be directly affected by the shift away from cash and physical banks. I encourage anyone with first-hand experience of losing banking services to give evidence to the Committee”

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Business

Trains resume between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock as works end

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TRAIN services resumed this morning (Thursday 28 March) after ten days of essential round-the-clock work to upgrade track and drainage between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock.

The railway was closed from Monday 18 March to Wednesday 27 March to allow Network Rail teams to replace more than 200 metres of track and 300 tonnes of ballast (track stones) between Pembroke station and Pembroke Dock.

Work to improve the drainage between Narbeth and Kilgetty stations was also completed at the same time.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director, said: “This essential work in Pembrokeshire demonstrates our commitment to improving the reliability of the service we provide to passengers along our route.

“We know that replacing the track can be disruptive and very noisy, so I would like to thank the residents of Pembroke for their patience while our team carried out this crucial work.”

Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director at Transport for Wales said: “We’re pleased that our colleagues in Network Rail have completed this essential work and that Transport for Wales rail services resumed today.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience while this work has progressed and look forward to welcoming passengers back in time for the Easter weekend.”

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News

Welsh Water has increased sewage discharges into waterways ‘by 40%’

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NEW figures released by the Environment Agency have shown that Dwr Cymru discharged sewage into waterways for a staggering 23,354 hours last year, a 40% increase on 2022. 

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are now calling for tougher action against sewage dumping in Welsh waterways.

The party has also called for a halt on bonuses for water company bosses whose firms have dumped sewage into waterways.

Conservative MPs have consistently voted against measures which would have helped to tackle the crisis.

The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said: “It is a complete scandal that filthy sewage is being pumped into our nation’s rivers and waterways without consequence.

“It’s beggars’ belief that both the UK Conservative Government and the Welsh Labour government are allowing water firms to get away with this environmental vandalism.

“We as a party are calling for tougher action to stop sewage being dumped in local waterways. We have also called for a halt on bonuses for water company fat cats whose firms have pumped filth into our waterways.”

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