News

Huge 12.5% council tax hike backed by cabinet

Published

8 years ago

February 12, 2018

PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’S Cabinet has recommended that Council Tax should go up by 12.5% at its meeting on Monday (Feb 12).

At the meeting, councillors unanimously supported the rise which would see the council achieve a balanced budget.

A 12.5% rise would equate to an extra £2.11 per week or £110 per annum.

The Council has been holding a number of consultation exercises including two Facebook Live sessions to gauge the views of the public.

It was also pointed out that they had received over 1300 responses to its consultation, whereas it only received just over 100 to its previous exercise.

Cllr Bob Kilmister reminded members that the funding gap for 2018/19 was £16.4m and that of that they had identified cost reductions of £10m.

The 60 members of Council will meet on Thursday 8th March to make the final decision on whether to approve the Cabinet’s recommendation of 12.5%, or alternative increases of 5.1% or 8.1%.

The meeting of Council on 8th March will also consider the proposed 2018-19 budget, and the ongoing public consultation to consider the proposed 5%, 8% or 12.5% Council Tax increases. The consultation closes on February 16th.

The financial pressures on the Authority were detailed in a report to today’s Cabinet meeting by the Director of Finance, Jon Haswell.

His report read: “Due to Pembrokeshire having the lowest Band D Council Tax in Wales since 1996, it was £15m worse off in 2017-18 than it would have been if its Council Tax was at the average level for Wales.

“Pembrokeshire has the largest shortfall between its actual
spending and what Welsh Government predicts it needs to spend to deliver services, its Standard Spending Assessment (SSA).”

The report continued: “The Welsh average Band D Council Tax for 2017-18 was £1,162 – £279 more than Pembrokeshire at £883.”

Cabinet members heard that a 12.5% increase for Band D properties (equating to a rise of £110.39) would still mean that Pembrokeshire would have the lowest Council Tax in Wales – even if all the other Authorities had no rise in their Council Tax.

Cllr Kilmister said: “If we go with a council tax increase of 12.5% there would be a £5.7m contribution from council tax and that would give us a balanced budget.

“There is £1.3m that has come out of the cost reduction figures in terms of the schools budget.

“People will see that there is a change and that’s because there is a constantly moving scene in terms of the budget, it almost moves by the day and we’ve had decisions by Cabinet on the IT strategy, alterations to the council tax reduction scheme and we’ve made alterations to the schools budget which is why the original figure of £11.2m in cost reductions has now gone down to £10m.

“In terms of where we are, the budget has been debated at all the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and the majority view from those was that 12.5% or option 3 was the correct choice. There was one committee were two members voted for 8% and for some reason nobody else took part so it wasn’t a unanimous decision.

“We’ve also conducted four finance seminars to members across the year and I honestly believe there has been more scrutiny and more information has been provided to members than ever has been before.

“We’ve conducted two Facebook live sessions since the last Cabinet meeting which were extremely useful and the numbers viewing those has been quite exceptional and I think we learnt an awful lot from doing them and very valuable.

“We’ve still got a public consultation which is carrying on that doesn’t end until February 16, and that’s going to be much more meaningful than we’ve ever had in the past.

“As of Friday night (Feb 9), we’d had over 1320 responses to that consultation, the last consultation produced 135 so I’m looking forward to seeing what that consultation says.

“I’m determined that we should do the right thing and not dodge the issue. We have to make a step change on our council tax levels.”

Cllr Kilmister stated that they either needed to do something or services would be reduced to a level that most people would see as unacceptable.

He moved the recommendations and added that option 3 (12.5% rise) should be put to the next meeting of full council.

Cllr Phil Baker said it was ‘not going to be easy’ to sell the 12.5% rise but added that in his ward people would prefer to see the rise rather than cuts to services.

Cllr Neil Prior added there was a ‘grudging acknowledgement’ that this was what they needed to do while Cllr Paul Miller said he could not see ‘any other option’ for them to take.

The Cabinet unanimously supported the recommendation from Cllr Kilmister that a 12.5% council tax increase be suggested to full council.

Ministry of Defence

Castlemartin range set for heavy activity as winter live-fire exercise begins

Published

5 hours ago

November 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Army warns of late-night firing and increased traffic

CASTLEMARTIN Training Area will be extremely busy over the next few weeks as the Army begins a major live-fire exercise running from now until to 5 December.

The winter training block will see troops carrying out critical preparation ahead of future deployments, with extensive armoured manoeuvres and both daytime and night-time firing.

Extended firing hours

Live firing will take place between the following times:

Monday: 8:00am – 6:00pm and 8:00pm – 3:00am
Tuesday: 8:00am – 6:00pm and 8:00pm – 3:00am
Wednesday: 8:00am – 6:00pm and 8:00pm – 3:00am
Thursday: 8:00am – 6:00pm and 8:00pm – 3:00am
Friday: 8:00am – 6:00pm

There will be no live firing at weekends, although military vehicles will still be moving around the area.

Residents are being reminded that these times are the earliest and latest possible firing windows. Not every day will start or finish at the maximum hours listed.

Traffic expected on rural roads

The Army says there will be increased vehicle movements on local roads—particularly in Angle, Castlemartin and the Freshwater West area—in the week leading up to the exercise and throughout the training period.

A spokesperson said the support of local people is appreciated: “These exercises are essential for maintaining readiness and ensuring our troops are fully trained for any future operational requirement.”

Crime

Two Milford Haven men sent to Crown Court on GBH charges

Published

6 hours ago

November 18, 2025

Court Reporter

The incident stems from a violent incident outside The Vibe public house, Milford Haven involving three men – a woman was also wounded in the incident

TWO Milford Haven men have been sent to Swansea Crown Court charged with section 18 wounding after an alleged incident in the town on November 15.

David McCallum, 41, of Plas Peregrine, Steynton, appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates court on Monday (Nov 17). He is accused of unlawfully and maliciously wounding a woman in Milford Haven with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm, contrary to section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

McCallum also faces a second section 18 charge alleging that, on the same date in Milford Haven, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded a man with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

He was represented by solicitor Tom Lloyd, with the prosecution conducted by Nia James.

On Tuesday (Nov 18), Nathan Abbott, 31, also of Plas Peregrine, Steynton, appeared before District Judge Mark Layton at Haverfordwest magistrates court.

Abbott is charged with unlawfully and maliciously wounding a man in Milford Haven on November 15 with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, contrary to section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

He was represented by Mike Kelleher, of Welch & Co.

Abbott also gave no plea, and his case was likewise sent to Swansea Crown Court under section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

Both McCallum and Abbott were remanded on conditional bail.

McCallum’s bail conditions include a curfew from 7:00pm to 7:00am, to be electronically monitored, not to contact directly or indirectly witnesses, and not to enter any public house, licensed club or off-licence.

Abbott’s bail conditions include living and sleeping each night at his home address , not to contact witnesses directly or indirectly, and not to enter licensed premises.

Both men must appear for a Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing at Swansea Crown Court on December 19, 2025, at 9:00am.

No pre-sentence reports were ordered and no indication was given regarding any victim personal statements at this stage.

Crime

Aberystwyth man remanded after admitting cocaine supply

Published

6 hours ago

November 18, 2025

Court Reporter

Case sent to Swansea Crown Court for sentencing

AN ABERYSTWYTH man has been remanded in custody after admitting possessing cocaine with intent to supply and having £7,000 in criminal cash.

Luke Hutton, 25, of Corporation Street, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Monday (Nov 17) for his first hearing. The case was heard by a bench of Mr J Steadman, Mrs M Scott and Mr R John. He was represented by Jessica Hill and Mike Kelleher, while the prosecution was led by Nia James.

Hutton pleaded guilty to two offences arising from a police incident at Yr Hafan, Princess Street, Aberystwyth, on November 14.

The first charge was possessing £7,000 in criminal property, contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The second was possessing a quantity of cocaine, a Class A drug, with intent to supply.

Magistrates were told that Hutton indicated guilty pleas to both matters on the day of his appearance.

Because of the seriousness of the charges, the bench committed the case to Swansea Crown Court for sentence under Section 14 of the Sentencing Act 2020. A pre-sentence report has been ordered.

Magistrates refused bail, citing the likelihood of further offending, the seriousness of the offences and the likely custodial sentence. Hutton was remanded into custody.

He will next appear at Swansea Crown Court on December 1, 2025, at 9:00am, for a committal for sentence hearing, listed for 30 minutes.