News

Charges lead to decrease in car park use

Published

8 years ago

September 13, 2016

shutterstock_295391240 CAR PARK usage in six car parks has decreased following the introduction of parking charges last year, a report has found.

In July 2015, Pembrokeshire County Council introduced charging mechanisms into six car parks that previously did not charge.

Car parking charges were introduced in High Street (St Dogmaels), Station Hill (Goodwick), St Thomas Green (Haverfordwest), Rifleman’s Field (Haverfordwest), Mart Ground (Crymych) and Station Road (Pembroke).

A review was carried out to look at the impact of the charges and that found that the usage of the car parks had decreased due to the new charges.

Only St Dogmaels experienced a rise in its usage in the past year.

It was also stated in the report that usage of the Rifelman’s Field car park had dropped considerably.

On Monday, September 12, Cabinet members were presented with the findings but they did not mention the drop in usage at five of the six car parks.

Cabinet member for Transportation, Cllr Rob Lewis said: “Cabinet carried out a review of non-charging car parks and introduced a charging structure on some of the parks in this authority. This took place due to a scrutiny report which happened on June 4.

“We introduced charging into six sites in Pembrokeshire back in July last year and we added that we have a report back 12 months later to monitor the impact the charges have had.

“Some of the findings are similar throughout all of them but I will highlight a few things that have been picked up.

“We’ve introduced pop and shop bays in quite a number of Car parks and these have proved quite successful and some of the businesses have recognised that they are being used for the right purposes.

“In St Dogmaels, we are currently undertaking further discussions on the impact of the RNLI, obviously we don’t want to impact on their very important work so we want to look further at what we can do to support the RNLI in St Dogmaels.

“In Crymych, we’re looking at taking on further discussions as the community council have come forward with a proposal on how we could manage the car park in the future so we will have further discussions to look at the options and they are quite keen.”

Cllr Huw George said: “I don’t think people fully realise the challenges we are under and I’m looking at the charges, for example 4 hours is 60p, that compares well with other authorities because if you go to other authorities you’re talking £2 for the same sort of time and I hope the people of Pembrokeshire will come forward and say how can we help in keeping a service.”

Cllr Jamie Adams said it was pleasing that the council had recognised that the council has realised that there are some areas where charging is not appropriate.

As part of a number of recommendations Charges and Tariffs in Station Hill, Goodwick, will remain unchanged.

At St Thomas Green in Haverfordwest there is no proposal to change any of the tariffs or charge structure.

There will also be no change in Station Road in Pembroke despite all three seeing reduced usage.

Only Rifleman’s Field in Haverfordwest will see a change in its 24 hour tariff to 0.80p in order to encourage workers to park and reduce some on street issues.

The 4 hour tariff will also be removed in the hope that people wishing to park for 4 hours can use the St Thomas Green car park.

News

Carmarthenshire takes leading role in latest Celtic Noir – ‘Out There’

Published

10 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Sarah Jane Absalom

Carmarthenshire looks set to take another leading role as the location for ITV’s highly anticipated gritty drama ‘Out There’,

Produced by Buffalo Pictures and starring Martin Clunes, the programme will be aired on January 19.

The news means that Carmarthenshire is fast gaining recognition as a hub for the Celtic Noir genre of filming, and the new six-part thriller joins the many TV and film productions which have been drawn by the county’s dramatic, beguiling landscapes and attractive market towns.

It follows on from the highly acclaimed BBC’s Keeping Faith as well as The Light in the Hall/ Y Golau for Channel 4.

‘Out There’ will showcase Carmarthenshire’s natural beauty against the malice of an insidious crime wave sweeping the British countryside, led by county lines drug dealers and urban gangs that use the countryside as their field of operations. Martin Clunes stars as farmer and single parent, Nathan Williams, who runs a farm which has been in his family for generations.

Many of the filing locations can now be visited by following Discover Carmarthenshire’s new ‘Set Jetter Trail’ which provides insider tips on how best to follow the sometimes eerie paths that many stars have taken around the county.

Crime

Father of baby girl killed in Tenby incident says its been like a ‘horror movie’

Published

10 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Staff Writer

A SIX-MONTH-OLD baby girl has tragically died after her pram was struck by a car in a multi-storey car park in Tenby, Pembrokeshire.

Sophia Kelemen, described as “smiley and bubbly,” suffered catastrophic brain injuries in the collision on Thursday (Jan 2). Despite being airlifted to a Cardiff hospital, the injuries proved fatal.

Sophia’s family, from Greater Manchester, had been on holiday in Wales and were preparing to head home when the incident occurred.

Her father, Alex Kelemen, 27, told the BBC: “Just before we got to the car, the horror movie started.

“It’s been horrific to see our little daughter lying in that hospital bed and going through all those procedures. Everybody loved her—our friends, our family. She’s always going to live in my heart. I know she’s watching over me every day.”

Sophia’s parents now face the heartbreaking task of explaining the tragedy to their five-year-old son, Lucas.

“He’s been asking about his little sister every day,” said Mr Kelemen. “The hardest thing I’ve ever done is explain to him that God loved his sister more than we did. I told him that God gave Sophia a new pair of wings so she could fly above him and protect him.

“There are things I just don’t know how to explain to him. He’s our only child now, and everything we do is for him.”

Family’s heartbreak

Sophia’s aunt, Adriana Kelemen, recounted the devastating events to the Manchester Evening News.

“They were on a short break in Wales with family friends,” she said. “It was their last day. They’d been out, and then they went to the supermarket.

“It happened in the car park. The pram Sophia was in was destroyed.”

Support for devastated family

Fundraising efforts are now underway to support Sophia’s family. Two GoFundMe pages—one in English and one in Romanian—have been launched to cover funeral costs and repatriation expenses. The family plans to bury Sophia in Romania.

Meanwhile, Flaviu Naghi, 33, from Wigan, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, as well as driving without a licence or insurance. He is due to appear at Swansea Crown Court on February 7.

Donations to assist the family can be made via the GoFundMe pages.

Pictured:

Tragic loss: Six-month-old Sophia Kelemen, pictured with dad Alex, died after her pram was hit by a car (Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police)

News

Wales at the forefront of UK drive to ‘turbocharge’ AI

Published

11 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST MINISTER OF WALES Eluned Morgan has welcomed today’s announcement from the UK Government of a multi-billion pound investment in Artificial Intelligence.

The UK Opportunities Action Plan, launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer today, aims to drive economic growth, support public services and use intelligent technology to improve people’s every day lives.

Wales is uniquely placed to benefit from the AI infrastructure plans, with work already underway to develop tech hubs, shared resources and data centres.

As part of the investment announced today, US technology giant Vantage Data Centers plans to invest over £12 billion across the UK, resulting in the creation of over 11,500 jobs. The Welsh Government has been working closely with Vantage since 2020 to support the development of its data centres in Wales.

It is expected that the lion’s share of the new investment from Vantage will be in Wales. The biggest investment will be in Bridgend, where the company plans to develop the former Ford factory site to become one of Europe’s largest data centre campuses.

The First Minister is keen to ensure Wales benefits from the investment in AI, saying:

“Today’s announcement, which includes a multi-billion pound investment in AI by some of the world’s biggest tech companies, is a huge boost in confidence for industry in Wales.

“We are seeing that AI is increasingly being used as a power for good, whether that’s increasing productivity or bringing smarter solutions to everyday problems.

“There can be enormous benefits to the economy in establishing the tech and wider infrastructure here in Wales. Industry leaders recognise that the conditions are right in Wales, with a government that will do what it can to make these plans a reality.

“This won’t happen overnight and it’s important that the infrastructure, data, skills and talent is in place to ensure that we all benefit from these solutions. There’s no question that Wales is in an excellent position to benefit, given the work that’s already in progress here.”

The Economy Secretary Rebecca Evans is leading a review to explore how Wales can capitalise on opportunities and develop Wales’ strengths in the development of AI-based technologies.

Over the past year, the Welsh Government has worked with other organisations to develop guidance to support Welsh public bodies in adopting AI in a responsible, safe and ethical way.

Wales has already seen evidence of the value of AI implementation in diagnostic care in the NHS, with a digital pathology platform for prostate and breast cancer detection led by Betsi Cadwaladr seeing a 13% increase in prostate cancer detection rates.

Estyn, the school inspectorate, is also undertaking a review of the use of Generative AI in schools, which will explore the potential benefits to schools, while also considering the challenges they pose.