News

Services to be cut beyond the bone

Published

10 years ago

February 24, 2016

‘Giving the public what they want at a level that’s affordable’: Jonathan Haswell

THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD has been provided with a copy of the confidential report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) on the Council’s finances and where ‘savings’ can be made and ‘efficiencies’ found.

And it makes grim reading. Claims that the County Council has ‘taken the sting out of budget-cutting’, as was claimed in an article in Accounting and Business last November, appear to have the capacity to bite it on the backside and require industrial quantities of the local government equivalent of savlon for treatment.

As The Herald recently revealed, Pembrokeshire County Council’s has massively underspent on the standard spending assessment from the Welsh Government to the tune of £42m over three years. That policy was seemingly aimed at maintaining the IPPG’s fixation with the totemic claim of setting Wales’s lowest Council tax and obsession with pursuing a cuts agenda more in common with England than in Wales. The consequences of that policy are now coming home to roost as when it comes to cutting services, Pembrokeshire is now faced with cutting not to the bone but to the marrow.

The most massive cut will fall in social care. The social care budget has already taken a series of massive and slashing reductions under the stewardship of former Labour member Simon Hancock. The Herald can, however, report that there is more and worse to come for the most vulnerable people in our county.

CUTS AIMED AT THE VULNERABLE

Under the so-called cost reduction/ efficiency proposals for 2016/17, the Council is considering a cut of £750,000+ in day care provision and a £1.4m cut in home care services. Nursing home placements will be hit with a £119,000 cut and there is a massive cut of £922,000 in residential placements. The Council is being asked to swallow a £329,000 in supported accommodation and a £320,000 cut in unspecified ‘Other Services’ in Adult Care.

All in all the cuts to Adult Care amount to £4m in the next civic year. The situation is no less grim for the Council’s Child Care Services with £831,000 of projected cuts, including a £250,000 cut to the fostering service and £329,000 cut from other family services.

The planned cuts to Child Services are blandly noted as possibly impacting negatively on the Council’s prevention agenda.

Given Pembrokeshire’s ‘chequered’ track record on child protection, one has to wonder whether the Council really intends to jeopardise its already fragile reputation by creating a situation in which its will and ability to protect Pembrokeshire’s children is called into question.

SCHOOLS BUDGET BATTERED

Even while the County Council takes part in the largest, most ambitious, and potentially most chaotic and litigious schools reorganisation in Wales, it is planning to cut schools’ budgets. In the midst of a spending spree totalling tens of millions of pounds, with reserves syphoned from departmental budgets to support its grandiose ambitions, the Council is planning to cut funding for primary and secondary schools by almost £1.9m.

It has identified the potential risk of those cuts of being that ‘pupil outcomes do not improve’.

In other words, the Council is prepared to embrace a policy on the one hand that its 21st Century Schools programme claims to address. What that says about the Council’s confidence in its own schools programme and the good faith of assurances about improvements made during the course of its disorganised attempt at schools reorganisation is laid open to question.

£337,000 will be cut from the inclusion and complex needs budget for education, £187,000 from the school meals budget, and £194,000 from the schools effectiveness programme. A further £37,000 in savings will come from the music service, governors’ service, and sports development budgets. There is a scheduled £242,000 cut to Adult and Community Education and a further £52,000 cut to the youth service.

All in all, a reduction to the education budget in excess of £2.9m in one year. Just enough to cover the cost of the Council’s contribution to its favoured new 6th Form Centre at Pembrokeshire College.

HIGHWAYS AND LEISURE CUTBACKS

£696,000 is to be shaved from the highways budget.

£32,000 of that money is to be pared from the coastal defence budget, while a further £28K is to be carved out of a maintenance review of flood defences and drainage. The Council is counting on mild winters and clement weather to justify the former cut, while crossing its fingers that cutting the latter will not result in its failure to fulfil a statutory duty.

While those figures are small compared to the £250,000+ cut in highways maintenance, about which the Council notes that ‘some works may not be done’, they are suggestive a desperate crossing of fingers about the elements.

Meanwhile, the Council proposes to shave £192,000 off the leisure budget by the expedient of closing them at bank holidays and reducing opening hours. It remains to be seen what impact this has on Pembrokeshire’s ability to offer anything for tourists to do on a rainy May Day or Good Friday. Although, it may be the case – as appears to be indicated by the cuts above – that the authority is in possession of remarkably detailed long range weather forecasts.

With £114,000 to be slashed off the library service and a further £59,000 about archives, it seems that Pembrokeshire is prepared to make a solid contribution to the decline of literacy and bury the past beyond retrieval.

However, Pembrokeshire continues to have the lowest council tax in Wales.

Community

Local lettings policy helps sustain rural communities and Welsh language

Published

3 hours ago

May 21, 2026

Tom Sinclair

NEW affordable housing developments in North Pembrokeshire are helping local people remain in their communities while supporting rural schools and the Welsh language.

Since 2022, West Wales Housing Association has completed new social housing schemes at Parc Brynach in Dinas Cross and Golwg y Llan in Eglwyswrw.

A further development, Parc Nantwen in Dinas Cross, is nearing completion, with new tenants expected to move in within weeks.

The homes have been welcomed locally in an area where affordability remains a significant challenge for many residents.

West Wales Housing Association introduced a local lettings policy giving priority to applicants with strong links to Eglwyswrw and Dinas Cross.

For the Parc Nantwen development, applicants from the Dinas, Newport and Bro Gwaun communities were prioritised.

The approach has meant a number of local people have been able to secure homes who may otherwise have lost out to applicants with weaker links to the area.

The policy is also seen as important in communities where the Welsh language remains strong. Eglwyswrw and Dinas are served by Welsh-medium primary education at Ysgol Eglwyswrw and Ysgol Bro Ingli in Newport.

The impact is already being felt. Following the completion of Parc Brynach, pupil numbers at Ysgol Bro Ingli rose from 86 to more than 100.

Newport and Dinas county councillor Huw Murphy praised West Wales Housing Association for working closely with Dinas Community Council on the lettings policy.

Cllr Murphy said: “The recent lettings policy developed by WWHA, following close liaison with Dinas Community Council, has worked well in enabling houses to be allocated to local people with strong links to their community, where in the past they may have lost out to applicants with more tenuous connections.

“The benefit of a robust local lettings policy has resulted in increased pupil numbers at Ysgol Bro Ingli, while also placing a strong emphasis on protecting the Welsh language, which is very much welcomed.

“I hope that any future affordable housing developments will mirror the recent lettings policy implemented in Dinas Cross and serve as a template elsewhere in Pembrokeshire.”

Supporters say the developments are helping young people and families stay in rural Pembrokeshire, supporting village schools and safeguarding the social and linguistic fabric of North Pembrokeshire’s communities at a time when many rural areas face an ageing population.

Community

Dog rescued after multi-agency response in Pembroke Dock

Published

4 hours ago

May 21, 2026

Tom Sinclair

AN ALSATIAN dog was rescued in Pembroke Dock after falling down an embankment and becoming trapped near the water’s edge.

Fire crews from Pembroke Dock and Haverfordwest were called to the incident near Cleddau Bridge Business Park at 12:41am on Thursday (May 21), following reports that the dog, named Lunar, was unable to climb back to safety.

The rescue involved a multi-agency response, with Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service working alongside HM Coastguard, the RNLI and Drone Search and Rescue teams.

Lunar was located and safely recovered by the RNLI boat team before being brought back to dry land and reunited with her grateful owners.

A photo released after the rescue shows Lunar, her owners, and members of the teams involved.

Cymraeg

Welsh language report says students face mixed experiences across colleges and universities

Published

4 hours ago

May 21, 2026

Tom Sinclair

A NEW report has found that Welsh-speaking students face inconsistent access to Welsh language services across Wales’ colleges and universities.

The research, published by the Welsh Language Commissioner on Monday (May 25), gathered responses from more than 1,500 further and higher education students.

It examined four key areas: whether students can submit written work in Welsh, choose accommodation with Welsh-speaking students, access a Welsh-speaking personal tutor, and receive wellbeing support through the medium of Welsh.

The report also looked at the wider language culture on campuses, including how institutions promote Welsh language services and support students to use Welsh naturally in academic and social settings.

Osian Llywelyn, Deputy Welsh Language Commissioner, said colleges and universities had a vital role in helping students use Welsh as part of everyday life.

He said: “Given the importance of sustaining and developing the continued use of the Welsh language, it is essential to recognise the key role that further education colleges and higher education institutions play in ensuring that students have the opportunity to use Welsh naturally as part of their academic and social lives.

“While it is encouraging to see strong examples of good practice, that experience is not consistent across the sector. As a result, we have identified clear improvement actions, and we will be asking the relevant institutions to address them.”

Five improvement actions have been identified. These include standardising Welsh-medium assessment arrangements, proactively offering Welsh language services rather than simply making them available on request, addressing gaps in workforce Welsh-language skills, strengthening students’ sense of belonging through Welsh, and improving self-assessment and monitoring.

James Owen, Chief Executive of Medr, the body responsible for funding and regulating tertiary education in Wales, said the findings showed the need for more support across the sector.

He said Medr’s new Welsh Language Condition would place a clearer focus on providers promoting and supporting the use of Cymraeg, and on creating formal and informal opportunities for staff and learners to develop their Welsh-language skills.

Ioan Matthews, Chief Executive of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, said students’ experiences of Welsh at college or university could influence their willingness and ability to use the language later in the workplace.

He said the report showed the need for the Welsh-language experience to extend “well beyond the classroom”.