Politics

Leanne Wood’s long campaign

Published

8 years ago

May 4, 2016

LEANNE WOOD was not at all satisfied with a fourth place finish in the 2015 General Election.

Her immediate response to the loss – and the mere hold of her three MPs – was to declare that the campaign for the National Assembly elections of May 2016 would commence without pause.

This most recent campaign has been the culmination of decades of political action: miner’s strike, devolution, various assembly elections, and the 2011 referendum.

Already in campaign mode, and convinced that there would have been a breakthrough in the General Elections with a few more weeks to campaign, Wood began a series of major engagements: visiting local constituencies, attending cultural events, making visits to schools and giving major addresses on politics and policy at Aberystwyth University. Linking up her network on the ground, Wood engaged local organisations in the campaign, giving speeches at party events and demonstrations, outlining her message for the May elections.

With the “What Next for Wales?” campaign in full gear, she decisively answered a quip by one of her aides Simon Thomas, who suggested that she was better suited to campaigning than to intellectual “stuff” (Wales Online, 12 May 2015). Wood countered by not only giving many speeches on policy and political affairs, but also by using the campaign itself to disseminate her ideas and build her network across Wales.

The long campaign has been energised by immense personal loyalty that Plaid members’ have for Wood’s leadership. No one questioned her strategy of an immediate campaign, but picked up their shovels and joined her work for a change of government in Wales.

Leanne Wood is certainly seeking national liberation for Wales. Yet, independence is her longest campaign. She is often asked by commentators how she squares her quest for a socialist republic with the pragmatic necessity of getting on with the “system as it is”.

She will answer that the “system as it is” is the result of historical action and events, and that the people of contemporary Wales have the same capacity for action and change. In a post-devolution framework, moreover, the National Assembly is a state in embryo, one which can be brought to fruition with the enhancement of its autonomy and powers, over eg. social security, healthcare, taxation, policing and criminal justice, natural resources, drug policy, land policy, airspace – and other powers appropriate for a European-oriented democratic republic and nation in its own right.

For Wood, Wales is a nation to come, one that will be built by the generations of those who live here, by a multi-lingual and multi-ethnic population, for the sake of a better life and a stronger, more local, democracy – one that serves the wishes and aspirations of Wales.

Leanne Wood was never going to be the usual politician.

Her expulsion from the National Assembly on her first day as AM was hardly auspicious – or was that her point after all? She was contesting, re-valuing, a distinctly British value – honour to the Queen – to the British sovereign – of one unelected versus Wood’s own democratic mandate.

Wood began her political career with a denunciation of British sovereignty over Wales. She campaigns now for the governance of Wales, for First Minister and the acceleration of the national process.

Yet, the building process, though it would be greatly accelerated by a Plaid victory, does not of itself require a nationalist government, but an intensified movement for home rule, enhanced powers, and compliance of the UK government with the 2011 referendum.

Wood has nearly perfected the campaign as a form of organising political change. A campaign is a real time affair that provides the vast array of individual events with a cohesive momentum. If one is committed to forming a new nation, one must cultivate the most broad-based and effective national outreach network, a campaign that is the process of nationbuilding itself.

In this way, even if she comes up short in May to form an outright government, Wood will have an even stronger voice for transformative politics as the leader of the progressive opposition (especially as the Tories will still hold Westminster), one that remains strongly linked to mass organisations on the ground, such as Adam Price’s Yes Cymru, and with the UK-wide progressive opposition in activist networks and in the UK parliament.

Currently contending with Labour for the leadership of the National Assembly, Wood’s long campaign has paid off, and even offers the chance for accelerated national transformation.

As momentum is moreover connected to political direction, the winds are clearly in the Wood’s favour as the necessity for a mature national framework has become increasingly urgent for the protection and development of Wales.

News

Community asked for views on allocation of new St Davids homes

Published

17 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST phase of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Glasfryn housing development in St Davids is progressing well with the second phase also underway.

The development being built by GRD Homes Ltd, began in November 2023, with a first phase completion date of Winter 2024 looking hopeful, ahead of the scheduled plans.

The first phase consists of seven properties, including a mixture of one and two bedroom bungalows

As completion draws closer the properties will be advertised via Pembrokeshire Choice Homes.

Ahead of this, the Council’s housing team will be holding community engagement on the 13th August 2024 at the Ty’r Pererin Centres, Quickwell Hill, St Davids, SA62 6PD, 5pm-7pm.

This will be a chance for officers to liaise with the local community about the allocation process for these properties.

Glasfryn’s second phase is well underway, with the initial groundwork already completed. This phase includes a further 11 two bedroom bungalows, with a completion date in late 2025.

These bungalows will meet the latest Welsh Government’s Development Quality Requirement, and will be energy efficient, built to EPC A specification and include solar panels to help tenants with running costs.

The Glasfryn development is funded in partnership with Welsh Government.

Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr Michelle Bateman said: “We are really keen to work with the community on a local lettings policy for these new properties, as we have done for our developments in other parts of the County.”

If you have any queries please email the Customer Liaison Team on [email protected], phone them on 01437 764551, or visit Housing’s Facebook page.

Business

Legal call to stop £6m expansion of holiday park still ongoing

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A LEGAL request to overturn a Pembrokeshire County Council-granted approval for a £6m expansion of a south Pembrokeshire holiday park is still ongoing despite a previous announcement it had been turned down, county planners heard.

Back in February, Pembrokeshire planners were informed a legal challenge to a November 2023-granted application for works at Heritage Park, Pleasant Valley/Stepaside had been launched.

The holiday park scheme had previously been backed twice by county planners after a ‘minded to approve’ cooling-off period was invoked as it was against repeated officer recommendations to refuse.

The controversial scheme by Heritage Leisure Development (Wales) Ltd includes the installation of 48 bases for holiday lodges, a spa facility at a former pub, holiday apartments, a café and cycle hire, equestrian stables, a manège and associated office, and associated works.

It is said the scheme, next to the historic remains of the 19th century Stepaside ironworks and colliery, will create 44 jobs.

Officer grounds for refusal, based on the Local Development Plan, included the site being outside a settlement area.

Along with 245 objections to the current scheme, Stepaside & Pleasant Valley Residents’ Group (SPVRG Ltd) – formed to object to an earlier 2019 application which was later withdrawn – also raised a 38-page objection, with a long list of concerns.

A failed legal challenge to try and overturn a council decision to approve three separate planning applications at Heritage Park was launched in 2021 by SPVRG Ltd, which failed in early 2022; the council awarded costs of £10,000 despite external legal fees paid totalled £34,000 plus VAT.

At the June meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee members were told the recent judicial review call by SPVRG Ltd had been refused by the high court, the grounds put forward “not considered to be reasonably arguable”.

Committee chair Cllr Simon Hancock said a council request for SPVRG Ltd to pay costs incurred by the county council in defending the claim had now been submitted.

Following that, at the July planning meeting, in his chair’s announcement, Dr Hancock gave a clarification on the position.

“I can advise that whilst the application for judicial review was refused by the High Court Judge on May 31, 2024, the appellants have challenged this decision.

“This matter is listed for a renewal hearing, and accordingly the legal challenge is still in progress; I’m hoping that’s a clarification from the announcements I made back in June.”

Responding to the clarification, Trish Cormack of SPVRG Ltd pointed out it was not “an appeal,” adding: “Firstly, we are ‘requesting the decision to be reconsidered at a hearing,’ which is a bit less dramatic than ‘challenging the decision’.

“Secondly, the claim remains open for seven days after the decision on the papers in expectance of you requesting the hearing, and the form 86B comes attached to the decision with the case number already filled in for you. This is just part of the process for a judicial review. If the Judge really thought there were no merits to the case, he was free to issue a ‘without merits refusal’.

“That would have ended the claim there and then. The only way to resurrect it would have been to take it to the appeal court. But he didn’t.

“Thirdly, the announcement makes it sound like our ‘challenge’ had happened after their previous announcement, whereas in fact we only had seven days from May 31 in which to make the request, so they knew the moment we did (June 7) because we had to simultaneously email it to the court, PCC and the developer’s agent. So, they knew full well that there would be a renewal hearing.”

Farming

Farm building scheme near Lawrenny given go-ahead by planners

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

AN APPLICATION for a storage building at a south Pembrokeshire farm, made by a family member of an officer on Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning service, has been given the go-ahead by the authority’s planning committee.

In an application recommended for approval at the July 23 meeting of the authority’s planning committee, Laura Elliot sought permission for the erection of an agricultural storage building at Tedion Farm, a dairy farm near Lawrenny.

The application had been brought to committee, rather than being delegated to planning officers, due to the family connection.

The farm, near to the Pembrokeshire coast National Park border, comprises 270 milking cows and dairy heifer replacements kept on the farm comprising land over 138 hectares. The farm is mainly down to grass and the cows are paddock grazed in order to utilise grass efficiency.

No objections had been received from local community council Martletwy.

A report for members said: “The application seeks consent for the erection of agricultural storage building. The erection of an agricultural building will be used to store stay, hay and farm machinery.

“The building would be located within the existing farm complex, to the north-east of the site, adjacent to the main farm dwelling. The building will measure 18 metres in length by 13.6 metres in width, with a pitched roof height of 5.71 metres.”

Approval was moved by Cllr Alistair Cameron, seconded by Cllr Brian Hall.