News
Councillor Pugh in a stew
PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’s Cabinet member Cllr David Pugh has issued an “unreserved apology” over remarks he made during a sustained and savage attack on Hakin’s Cllr Mike Stoddart at last Thursday’s county council meeting when the controversial property grants in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock were debated.
Cllr Pugh asserted that Cllr Stoddart had made false claims on his website (oldgrumpy.co.uk) regarding the area of rendering at the grant-aided project No. 25 Dimond Street, Pembroke Dock.
According to the website, the area of hack off and re-render to the front and rear elevations in the tender (125 sq m) exceed that shown on the drawings (50 sq m) by two-and-a-half times and the area of paintwork to the same render (300 sq m) by six times.
Cllr Stoddart estimated that this over measurement had let to an inflation of the grant awarded by between £7,000 and £9,000.
But Cllr Pugh said he had visited the premises and, on accessing the backyard, discovered that Cllr Stoddart had failed to take into consideration a “third side elevation” measuring 8 m x 7 m which accounted for most of the discrepancy in the tender.
He told his fellow councillors:
“So whether this was a deliberate untruth, or sheer incompetence on his behalf in not checking the facts, I’ll leave you to decide”.
In response to this attack on his honesty and competence, Mike Stoddart posted photographs on his website that proved conclusively that this “third side elevation” to the rear of No. 25 was a figment of Cllr Pugh’s imagination.
He emailed Cllr Pugh demanding that this slur be withdrawn and on Wednesday morning the cabinet member replied admitting that the “third side elevation” belonged to a different building altogether. Cllr Pugh wrote to Cllr Stoddart, copying in all council members, “I freely admit that we made a mistake in looking at the rear of the properties in Dimond Street and confused Nos 25 and 27. I take full responsibility for the genuine error and hereby offer an unreserved apology for the remarks I made in Council regarding the rendering of no 25 Dimond Street.
“Having said that, I hope you will also take the opportunity to put on record that most of your allegations regarding these grant schemes have proved to be without foundation and incorrect.”
Mike Stoddart told The Herald: “It is rather ironic that, after accusing me of incompetence for not checking the facts, we now find Cllr Pugh admitting that his intemperate attack on me was based on the wrong property.
“At least he was in the right street.
“I would have expected him to have been accompanied on this visit by one of the council’s officers involved with these projects, so it is difficult to understand how he came to make such a schoolboy error.
“And it is a strange sort of ‘unreserved apology’ that is conditional on me admitting I was wrong about everything else.
“Cllr Pugh should realise that all I have ever written on this subject has been founded on careful research, including, as he now knows to his cost, my calculations regarding the rendering at No. 25 Dimond Street.
“During his poisonous attack he also accused me of conducting ‘a campaign of innuendo and smear’ and of making allegations ‘without any evidence – just his unjustified opinions and self-proclaimed expertise’.”
“Not satisfied with that, he concluded that I had made ‘many more spurious claims’ and that ‘getting at the truth is apparently not on his agenda’.”
“He even went so far as to suggest I was, like the fictional Don Quixote, afflicted by madness.
“As his apology is restricted only to his false claims about No. 25, none of this has been retracted.
“That is not a situation that I intend should endure.
“Finally, I hope that, having deployed their block vote to reject my notice of motion calling for more information on these grants to be released to elected members, the IPPG’s lemmings are feeling proud of themselves.
“And I have posted further information on the tender for No 25 on my website that Cllr Pugh might find of interest.”
Cllr Paul Miller told The Herald:
“Cllr David Pugh has, over the last few weeks, viciously attacked both Cllr Stoddart and myself for daring to question the oversight he, cabinet and officers have been giving to these grant schemes in Pembroke Dock. He even suggested during Thursday’s council meeting that Cllr Stoddart’s questioning of the rendering to 25 Diamond Street proved that he was either deliberately misleading council or incompetent. Well, this revelation proves two things. (1) That it is Cllr Pugh who is either incompetent or has been deliberately misleading council and (2) That there is indeed an issue with the grant paid for the rending of number 25 Diamond Street.”
He added: “So, over to the Pembrokeshire Public. Do you trust Cllr Pugh and Cllr Adams to get to the bottom of this? I’m afraid I don’t and I’m also afraid that my confidence in Cllr Pugh has been irreversibly damaged by this very unfortunate episode.”
News
Too many children in Wales living in poverty – Lib Dems want action
THIS week in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats renewed their demands for the implementation of child poverty targets.
According to a report from the Bevan foundation, 29% of children living in Wales are currently experiencing poverty (an estimated 190,000 children).
The same report highlighted that the largest percentage of children living in poverty are from working households or in couple households.
The Welsh Lib Dems are now renewing calls for the Welsh Government to create a set of targets for reducing child poverty, which the party argues will allow for more accountability.
The party has previously called for the implementation of targets, citing recommendations from the Calling Time on Child Poverty Report published in November last year.
Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said: “The latest statistics on childhood poverty in Wales paints a very distressing image of families across the country struggling to make ends meet.
Over the course of the last six years, the proportion of children in poverty has skyrocketed. Fuelled by worsening economic conditions and a complete lack of action from both governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay.
We cannot act complacent about these figures nor accept the clear lack of progress in fighting child poverty, behind each statistic is a child that the state has failed.
It remains painfully clear that the Welsh Government is failing to make any meaningful progress in this fight, which is why they must follow through with the implementation of clear set targets that will allow for further accountability.
We as a party have continuously called for the creation of these targets and we will not be silenced. For the sake of future generations we urge the Welsh Government to listen.”
Crime
Welsh constabulary areas record another increase in shoplifting
RETAIL trade union Usdaw is deeply concerned by today’s police recorded crime statistics showing that in 2023 there were significant increases in shoplifting across all constabulary areas in Wales. In the whole of England and Wales there has been a persistent upward trend since the pandemic, which continued with a 37% increase and has now risen to the highest level in 20 years.
The Office for National Statistics released figures showing a 39% increase in shoplifting incidents across Wales and by constabulary area as follows:
- Dyfed-Powys +11%
- Gwent +47%
- North Wales +23%
- South Wales +51%
Usdaw’s 2023 annual survey of over 5,500 shopworkers found that 60% had suffered incidents of violence, threats and abuse that were triggered by shoplifting and armed robbery.
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary says: “Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, theft from shops has long been a major flashpoint for violence and abuse against shopworkers. Having to deal with repeated and persistent shoplifters can cause issues beyond the theft itself like anxiety, fear and in some cases physical harm to retail workers. This 39% increase in shoplifting across Wales is further evidence that we are facing an epidemic of retail crime, which is hugely concerning.
“Our members have reported that they are often faced with hardened career criminals in the stores and we know that retail workers are much more likely to be abused by those who are stealing to sell goods on. Our latest survey results show that 7 in 10 retail workers suffered abuse from customers, with far too many experiencing threats and violence. 60% of respondents said theft from shops and armed robbery were triggers for these incidents.
“The scale of assaults, abuse and threats towards shopworkers and extent of the retail crime epidemic has been a disgrace for many years. This has been made worse by police cuts and a failure to legislate to protect retail staff. Usdaw has long called for action that includes a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker and that has been vehemently opposed by this Government and their Conservative MPs on many occasions.
“Recently the Government performed a long overdue U-turn after many years of sustained campaigning by Usdaw and others. Our members have had to wait too long for their voices to be heard and common sense to prevail. We will have to see the detail of what Ministers are proposing and we are clear that it must be at least what we won in Scotland three years ago. It also cannot fall short of Labour’s commitments to 13,000 more uniformed officers, patrols on high streets, banning repeat offenders and ending the perverse £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters.
“The dither and delay by this Government on this issue over many years, has led to thousands of shopworkers needlessly suffering physical and mental injury. Today’s stats should ensure that their promise to legislate is done speedily. We hope that whatever the Government is proposing will be substantial and effective in giving shopworkers, key workers in every community, the respect that they have long deserved and regrettably too often do not receive.”
Business
Paramount’s key role in transformation of McArthurGlen Designer Outlet
FAST-growing Welsh company Paramount is relishing the challenge of creating an “irresistible dining destination” after winning the contract to play a key role in the multi-million transformation of the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Bridgend.
The Cardiff-based design, build, fit-out and refurbishment specialist will spearhead the re-development project of the shopping centre after being handed responsibility for revamping its popular food court over the summer.
In the coming months, the development will see the Food Court transformed into three modern, and bright restaurants, welcoming new food and beverage brands to the centre and creating more than 100 new job opportunities for the local community.
Paramount’s Construction Director, Paul Thomas, said: “The team behind the scenes at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Bridgend have fantastic plans for the future and we’re delighted to have been entrusted with the mission to help turn their exciting vision into a reality.
“Paramount prides itself on creating places where people want to be, and my team are relishing the opportunity to help create what will be an irresistible dining destination. It’s certain to be a complex project, but we have the expertise and local knowledge to deliver outstanding results in close collaboration with our project partners.”
The owners of the shopping centre, which has been attracting local people and visitors for more than 25 years, have promised a “substantial investment to redevelop the Food Court area and replace it with new and exciting restaurants”.
Now the Paramount team is ready to lay the groundwork by removing some existing structures around the Food Court and will then introduce a series of new features as part of the overall facelift. These include new glazed entrance doors within glazed curtain walling shopfront, render and a new entrance lobby with new stairs and lifts.
The work to completely develop the Food Court in the shopping centre starts this week, and is expected to be completed in late autumn. As a result, customer favourites including Nando’s, McDonald’s and Chopsticks will be closed while work is under way.
Patrick Finney, Head of European Construction, McArthurGlen Group, said: “After celebrating our 25th anniversary last year, we’re extremely pleased to welcome Paramount on board in this important step of revitalising the Food Court area.
“These are exciting times for everyone at one of South Wales’ best-loved retail complexes and we know Paramount will work closely with us to create a truly special place for diners and shoppers of all ages.”
Paramount, whose turnover reached £45 million in 2023, employs 60 people who own a majority shareholding of the business – 51 per cent – following completion of an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) scheme in 2021, a deal which marked a major milestone for Paramount after a period of sustained growth.
The company is well known across Wales and England where it has created high-quality inspirational space for a number of leading companies. These include the multi-million-pound redevelopment of Hodge House and Fusion Point One in central Cardiff, and the fit out of Par 59 bars in South Wales and South West.
Over the next few months, Paramount’s construction team will also be completing on a multi-million-pound social housing development in Porthcawl, Mid-Glamorgan with Valleys to Coast.
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