News

‘Investigation’ into grants begins

Published

10 years ago

January 31, 2014

ON MONDAY, January 20, what was scheduled as a review of controversial grants awarded to property developers in Pembroke Dock under the Town Heritage Initiative and Commercial Property Grants Scheme turned into a full-blown investigation into the activities of builders and property developers who have benefited under them.

Although the word “review” appeared on the meeting’s agenda, the word “investigation” featured prominently in addresses to the Council made by Council officers, Mark Lewis, Director of Finance and Leisure; Dr Steven Jones, Director of Development; Gwyn Evans, the authority’s European Manager; and Jonathan Haswell, the Council’s Head of Internal Audit.

The meeting began with a striking reversal of position; Monitoring Officer Lawrence Harding confirmed that ALL Councillors WOULD have confidential access to documents and financial information concerning claims submitted for works and payments made under the schemes.

WE CAN’T ACCOUNT FOR EVERY PENNY

IN A REMARKABLE address to the County Council’s Audit Committee on Monday, Director of Development Dr Steven Jones confirmed that the audit procedures used by the authority meant that he could not guarantee that every penny claimed under the Town Heritage and Commercial Property Grant Schemes in Pembroke Dock had been spent by the developers concerned.

Dr Jones prefaced his remarks by claiming that although the chain of command left him ultimately responsible for the schemes, he was not involved in their day-to-day management and was not involved in their detailed scrutiny. Dr Jones went on to announce that in circumstances where money had been claimed for works not done then the Council would seek to recover those monies from property developers.

KEY PROPERTIES NOT INSPECTED

COUNCIL OFFICERS adopted a bullish and confident tone in their presentations to the Audit Committee, each pointing out that they had complied with procedures applicable to their respective roles. Mr Gwyn Evans told Committee members that even if there were problems with the Commercial Property Grant Scheme “which there are not” the Council had sufficient powers to reclaim money incorrectly paid out.

Under questioning from East Williamston Cllr Jacob Williams and Independent Committee Chair John Evans it was confirmed that DESPITE the assurance to the contrary given to December’s Full Council by IPPG Cllrs Pugh, Adams, Hall and Allen-Mirehouse properties in Dimond Street had NOT been checked and inspected: at the time of a major inspection in May 2012 the projects had not begun. Council officers had no idea which properties were inspected in a further audit visit in October 2012. Cllr Guy Woodham followed up by establishing that the Old Coronation School in Meyrick Street, Pembroke Dock, had not been checked by external auditors, as it was a residential development funded by the Town Heritage Initiative.

Under further questioning from Cllr Woodham officers confirmed that the process used by the Council to provide information to external bodies depended upon the provision by Council officers of small samples of data relating to individual projects, instead of a detailed examination of the bills of quantities for all of them.

Officers also confirmed that the Town Heritage Initiative did not have a procedural manual available for inspection as none was in place.

COUNCIL’S “MARGIN” REVEALED

ONE PIECE of information provided to Audit Committee members was the revelation that for each £ paid out under the Commercial Property Grants Scheme, the County Council obtained 9p. The recovery of this 9% was explained by the Council’s European Manager, Gwyn Evans, as covering its administration costs for the grants scheme and funding other enhancement works.

Mr Evans went on to claim that enhancement works and Council street improvements, such as the Tudor Rose paving project in Pembroke, would have been impossible without the Council recovering money out of the grants scheme.

COUNCILLORS QUERY WORKS

AUDIT COMMITTEE members and officers travelled to Pembroke Dock to see the buildings for themselves.

Stopping first at the Old Coronation School, where questions were raised about the refurbishment of the roof and windows, they moved on to Commercial Row before moving on to Dimond Street.

Accompanied by Cllr Mike Stoddart and Labour Leader Paul Miller, the Committee and officers visited 29 Dimond Street to gauge the works done for which £21,000 had been claimed. Councillors expressed some astonishment at the condition of the shop’s interior in light of the claims made for its refurbishment and were told by a Council surveyor, Steve Owen how grant money had been spent:

“There has been a new kitchen, WC, staff room, new wiring and fire alarm system – that’s the kind of thing they had to do.”

Cllr David Simpson asked: “You mean don’t know what work has actually been done?”

A local passer-by who knows the shop well, told Herald Assistant Editor Jon Coles, taking photographs of the visit, that he was amazed at the claims, saying that little or no work had been done in respect of the shop’s retail space. He said that the old fire alarms were still there, the partition and ceiling had not been removed and that apart from “perhaps a lick of paint” little had been done to change the shop’s interior.

On examination of the shop, Councillors noted that contrary to the expectations raised by the summary of works provided by the Council’s surveyor, a large hole in the toilet roof enabled them to see the underside of the floor above it and establish that the ceiling had not been insulated as stated or at all.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

MIKE STODDART told the Herald that the visit raised more questions than answers about how the Council justified the grant given to the developer:

“It seems that part of the answer lies in some creative thinking by the officers involved in calculating these grants. What emerged during the site visit to 29 Dimond Street was that the cost of the Celotex insulation in the roof had been charged to retail space on the grounds that it would contribute to countering heat loss from the shop.

“You might think it would contribute a lot more to keeping warm the five bedsits on the upper two floors.

“These 40% retail refurbishment grants – financed by the Welsh Government – are designed to regenerate the shopping centres of places like Pembroke Dock. “Quite how this is achieved by turning former retail space into bedsits is not immediately obvious.”

INVESTIGATION TO TAKE TIME

ON RETURNING to County Hall, Committee Chair John Evans told members that there was a consensus that the site visit was a positive and worthwhile exercise Members of the Committee and all members of the Council now have the opportunity to look at the information about the scheme and satisfy themselves as to the claims submitted and payments made. It is anticipated that this process will take over several weeks in a room set aside for members to scrutinise the paper trail.

Mike Stoddart told The Pembrokeshire Herald:

“This is a big improvement on what I was trying to achieve at Full Council, where my Notice of Motion to allow members to inspect these documents with the all financial information redacted was defeated by the IPPG block vote. I have now withdrawn my call for an Extraordinary Meeting to enable the investigation to proceed.”

Community

Public reminded to stay away from Ward’s Yard and Criterion Quay

Published

14 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE PORT of Milford Haven is reminding members of the public to stay away from Ward’s Yard in Milford Haven and Criterion Quay (sometimes known as the offshore jetty) in Pembroke Dock due to concerns over public safety. 

Despite significant security measures, people continue to access the sites illegally, ignoring and sometimes damaging the onsite signage and fences.

Niall Yeomans, Head of Health, Safety and Security at the Port of Milford Haven said: “Safety is our key priority. Members of the public are continuously putting themselves and members of our team at risk of serious harm by trespassing in these areas.”

“Both Ward’s Yard and Criterion Quay are unsafe for public access. They are isolated areas next to deep water and are susceptible to slips, trips and falls.”

Both sites are owned by the Port of Milford Haven and are private property. Anyone found onsite without consent is trespassing, and any criminal damage could result in prosecution.  

Anyone who sees any suspicious activity at Ward’s Yard or Criterion Quay is asked to contact Dyfed Powys Police on 101 urgently.

Crime

‘Sophisticated’ organised crime gang trafficked cocaine and cannabis to Aberystwyth

Published

17 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

FIVE people have been found guilty or admitted to conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis as Dyfed-Powys Police continues its efforts to dismantle organised crime gangs.

Officers seized cocaine with a street value of more than £400,000 from gang members, who continually changed tactics to avoid arrest.

Six defendants have appeared in court in the latest phase of Dyfed-Powys Police’s Operation Burleigh, which sought to disrupt the trafficking and onward supply of class A and B drugs into Aberystwyth, with all but one admitting their charges or being found guilty by a jury.

This brings the total number of people awaiting sentence under the operation to 15.

The court heard that officers from Dyfed-Powys Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Team and Ceredigion Priority Policing Team led the investigation into the OCG, which was described as ‘sophisticated, well-organised and evolving’.

Detective Sergeant Steven Jones said: “This conspiracy operated on a County Lines model, where controlled drugs are trafficked into a smaller rural town from a larger city, and the operation is controlled by one or more ‘drugs lines’.

“In this case there were a total of four lines controlling the supply of cocaine and cannabis within Aberystwyth.

“The conspirators frequently evolved their actions to frustrate the authorities and evade capture.”

The OCG embedded members were mainly asylum seekers brought to Aberystwyth by Toana Ahmad and another man who remains outstanding, with the sole purpose of dealing drugs. The drug lines were initially based in Swansea, and later in areas of Birmingham.

Three properties – on Terrace Road, Alexander Road and Parc Graig Glas – were identified early in the investigation as being used to house the OCG members embedded in Aberystwyth. Substantial amounts of cash, controlled drugs and weapons were recovered from these properties, and from the people found inside.

When arrests were made, the gang changed its tactics. Drugs began to be supplied from vehicles, and OCG members stayed in guest houses to avoid detection.

DS Jones added: “Trusted couriers were employed to transport drugs to Aberystwyth and cash back to Birmingham or Swansea. A number of vehicles, including taxis, were used as the gang attempted to avoid detection along the route, while trains were also taken when courier cars were stopped by officers.”

In June 2023, two vehicles travelling from the West Midlands towards Aberystwyth were stopped by police on consecutive days. A black sock was uncovered in the engine of the first car, which was found to contain 82g of high purity cocaine divided into 169 grip seal plastic bags.

Davinder Singh, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs, was the driver of the second vehicle, which was a taxi. A blue plastic bag was seen falling out of his shorts, which contained over 81g of high purity cocaine divided into 167 grip seal bags.

DS Jones said: “On the basis that the amounts of cocaine transported over the 37 couriers over the course of the conspiracy period were similar, over 3kg of cocaine would have been conveyed to Aberystwyth from Birmingham.

“This equates to class A drugs with a potential street value of over £308,950. In addition to this, class A drugs were seized from individuals and addresses with a potential street value of £103,445, along with cash totalling £11,687.

“A number of teams and departments across Dyfed-Powys Police, from analysts, CCTV operators and priority policing teams, to CAB, the Technical Support Unit, Economic Crime Team and Force Intelligence Bureau all assisted in dismantling the OCG from top to bottom.

“Their dedication and relentless efforts have assisted in making Aberystwyth a safer place to live without the threat and harm of drugs being made easily available on the street.”

After a seven-week trial at Swansea Crown Court earlier this year, the following three defendants were found guilty for their parts in the conspiracy:

Toana Ahmad, aged 33, of Lee Gardens in Smethwich, West Midlands
Barzan Sarhan, aged 31, of no fixed address
Ahmed Piro, aged 26, of no fixed address

The jury failed to reach a verdict on two defendants during the earlier trial. They have been subject to a retrial starting on July 1, with the following outcomes:

Hawre Ahmed, aged 35, of Pinderfields Road, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was found guilty by the jury of conspiracy to supply Class A and B controlled drugs.
Diar Yousef Zeabari, aged 35, of Flat 5, 41 Bryn Road, Swansea, was found not guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A and B controlled drugs.

Karwan Karim, aged 39 of 125 Griffith John Street, Swansea, also stood trial, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B controlled drugs on day three.

In addition to the OCG members found guilty during the most recent trials, the following have previously pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs under Operation Burleigh:

Davinder Singh, aged 36, of Huntingdon Road, West Bromwich
Daban Khalil, aged 23, of Streetly Road, Birmingham
Kastro Omar, aged 30, of Junction Road, Northampton
Karwan Jabari, aged 26, of Weedon Close, Northampton
Walid Younis Abdal, aged 34, of St Anne’s Road, Doncaster
Saman Aziz, aged 41, of Kirk Road, Merseyside
Adel Mustafa, aged 39, of Hubert Road, Newport
Charlotte Roberts, aged 21, of Sutton Hill, Telford

The following have previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs:

Akasha Smith, aged 24, of Third Avenue, Aberystwyth
Luqman Jarjis, aged 21, of Wake Green Road, Birmingham

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.