News

Audit Committee to complain about delayed investigation

Published

8 years ago

January 31, 2018

PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’S Audit Committee has agreed to complain to Dyfed-Powys Police over the length of time taken in investigating the Commercial Property Grants Scheme in Pembroke Dock.

The meeting was held on Tuesday (Jan 30), where a notice of motion from Cllr Mike Stoddart was discussed which called on the council to complain about the situation.

The council has previously written to the police about the investigation with Cllr Jacob Williams saying in 2016 that the investigation was ‘dragging its heels’.

Cllr Stoddart found that there were irregularities in payments made to developer, Cathal McCosker, for two properties in Pembroke Dock on Dimond Street and Meyrick Street.

The Commercial Property Grant Scheme is run by the Council and is also funded by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO).

WEFO has already claimed back some money from the Council and Cathal McCosker had offered to pay back the amount he had received under the council’s scheme.

Following a lengthy battle by Cllr Stoddart, he was able to see a number of documents relating to the scheme and in 2014 the police commenced an investigation into what had gone on.

The Council has also had a number of assurances that action would be taken ‘soon’ but nothing has materialised.
Cllr Stoddart said he was ‘disappointed ‘ with the recommendation that stated that the Chief Executive could have a conversation with the Chief Constable, adding: “That isn’t how things are done.”

He said: “I just cannot understand why it’s taken the police so long. You can go back two years and find them promising that something would be happening in the next couple of weeks.

“If you go back to the scrutiny committee in September 2013 there was a report there; ‘Internal audit has shared its findings with the council’s Monitoring Officer and is satisfied there is no mal-administration or non-compliance with the governance arrangements’.

“I then put a notice of motion calling for all the information to be made available to members because I knew there was something amiss but I wasn’t quite sure what and I wanted to see the bills of quantities and various other documents and that was the infamous meeting of December 2013 when the Cabinet member spent ten minutes calling me a liar and eventually I did get to see the documents and I did find several irregularities.

“There was £60,000 worth of irregular payments that I identified, in fact the developer who received the payments offered to pay back £180,000 and every penny that he had received on these contracts. Why he would do that is anybody’s guess.

“Cllr Jacob Williams and I found a tender document which there was a defect in it as much as the preferred builder was tendering on an entirely different specification to all the others which gave him a £10,000 lead over all the others.

“We took it to Mark Lewis, who was then the Head of Finance, and Mr Haswell and eventually the police were involved.

“In January of 2014, the council sent their own quantity surveyor to no.29 Dimond Street or Paul Sartori and he wrote a report and there was a payment for electrical work which is added to my submission and he wrote about that payment; ‘this is assumed non-eligible works and therefore no further consideration has been given to this work’.

“Well of course, he didn’t have to make that assumption because the final account for this job had been in the council’s possession six months before that and at Item F13, electrical improvements and additions, £9,800, it attracted a grant of £3,920.

“So the council knew or ought to have known about that before Jacob and I turned up this information and I’m sorry to say there was a huge attempt at a cover up by this council which is why I don’t trust this cosy chat between the Chief Executive and the Chief Constable as a method of going forward.”

Cllr Guy Woodham added: “There is too much that hasn’t happened in relation to this that should have happened by now and I think we would be failing in our duty as a committee if we didn’t refer this as a complaint to the right body within the police.”

Cllr Jacob Williams said: “The smoking gun that we found showed indisputably that the awarded tenderer was bidding on a contract which was different to all of the other tenders and that was clear evidence of favourable treatment to a contractor which happened to be for that applicant, always the awarded contractor.

“One thing we can be clear on is that there is a lot of doubt where this case now sits. In May 2016, the Audit Committee was told by Detective Inspector Anthony Griffiths that he was confident that arrests and criminal prosecutions would follow, when pressed on a time frame he was not committal but there was certainly an impression it was imminent.

Cllr Stoddart stated he felt there were two or three previous incidences where the police and the council had ‘conspired to pervert the course of justice’ and was ‘suspicious’ that something similar was going on.

The committee resolved that they would write to the police to complain about the length of time of the investigation and that Cllr Stoddart’s notice of motion go before the next full council meeting.

News

Lib Dems call for emergency VAT cut for hospitality as families ‘priced out’

Published

16 hours ago

November 12, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE WELSH LIBERAL DEMOCRATS are calling for an emergency 5% VAT cut for pubs, restaurants and other hospitality and entertainment businesses in next week’s Budget — part of a bold £12 billion plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that has made “going out an unaffordable luxury” for many families.

Under the proposals, VAT would be reduced from 20% to 15% on hospitality, accommodation and visitor attractions. The move would boost struggling high streets and bring down prices for hard-pressed families across Wales.

The plan forms part of a two-pronged “cost of living and cost of doing business rescue package,” which also calls on the Chancellor to cut household energy bills by scrapping the current renewables obligation levy. Together, these measures — to remain in place until April 2027 — would save a typical family around £270 over the next 18 months.

Funding would come from a new windfall tax on big banks, originally proposed by the IPPR think tank. The tax could raise an estimated £30 billion between now and 2030, with less than half of that needed to cover the cost of the VAT cut (£7.5bn) and the removal of the renewables obligation levy (£4.5bn).

The Liberal Democrats say their proposals would give a vital boost to Welsh pubs, restaurants and entertainment venues currently struggling under the “double whammy” of high taxes and falling customer spending.

Recent research by More in Common found that almost two in three Britons (59%) believe restaurant meals are now unaffordable for most people, while over half (51%) said the same about a night out at the pub, and 45% about a trip to the cinema.

David Chadwick, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson, said: “People are working with their nose to the grindstone all month and have next to nothing left over after sky-high bills and spiralling food prices.

In years gone by, people could look forward to fish and chips on a Friday or a weekend trip to the cinema. Now those small joys – the ones that make life worth living – are becoming an unaffordable luxury for too many.

High street businesses have been hammered by Labour’s jobs tax, so it’s no wonder so many treasured pubs, restaurants and cafés are closing their doors, taking with them vital jobs and community spaces.

It doesn’t have to be that way. With a new voting system in the Senedd, every single vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats will count and deliver change with fairness at its heart.

Our plans to cut VAT on hospitality and energy bills would put £270 back into people’s pockets, making it easier to heat their homes and spend a little more locally. This would help restore our high streets, drive economic growth and give the country a much-needed morale boost.”

Crime

Haverfordwest man fined for damaging car wing mirror

Published

16 hours ago

November 12, 2025

Court Reporter

Victim later retracted statement, court hears

A HAVERFORDWEST man has been fined after admitting to damaging a car wing mirror belonging to a woman in the town earlier this year.

Luke Owen, 33, of Wayside Close, Simpson Cross, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (Nov 12), where he pleaded guilty to criminal damage.

The court heard that on May 7, 2025, Owen damaged the wing mirror of a black Peugeot 2008.

Prosecutor Sian Vaughan said the damage was minor, and a victim personal statement was not presented to the court as the complainant had since retracted it.

Owen, represented by Mike Kelleher of Welch & Co Solicitors, was fined £40.

He was also ordered to pay £20 in compensation, £85 in prosecution costs, and a £16 victim surcharge.

Magistrates allowed the fine to be deducted from Owen’s benefits.

Crime

Whitland woman’s no-insurance charge discontinued

Published

16 hours ago

November 12, 2025

Court Reporter

A WHITLAND woman accused of aiding another person to drive without insurance has had her case discontinued at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court.

Louise Mary Hook, 52, of Compton House, Llanfallteg, was alleged to have aided and abetted Christopher Rone in using a Fiat Ducato van without insurance on High Street, Narberth, on May 15.

The prosecution claimed that Hook had encouraged or permitted Rone to drive the vehicle when no valid insurance policy was in force.

However, when the case came before magistrates on Tuesday (Nov 12), the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that the matter had been discontinued and no further action would be taken.