Outdoor screenings will take place at waterfront and historic locations across Pembrokeshire, including Milford Haven, Saundersfoot, St Davids and Pembroke Castle

DECKCHAIRS, blankets and picnics will be at the ready as the Torch Theatre’s popular Sunset Cinema returns for another summer of outdoor screenings.

The 2026 season will take audiences from Mackerel Quay in Milford Haven to Saundersfoot Harbour, Tŵr y Felin in St Davids and the spectacular surroundings of Pembroke Castle.

Working with media partner Pure West Radio, the Torch Theatre will tour Pembrokeshire with a large LED screen designed to provide a clear picture in daylight and in changing weather conditions.

This year’s programme includes family favourites, Hollywood classics and blockbuster adventures, with screenings of Finding Nemo, Back to the Future, Shark Tale, Jaws, Jurassic World, The Greatest Showman, How to Train Your Dragon and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.

The season begins at Mackerel Quay on Friday, July 17, with a double bill. Finding Nemo will be shown at 2.30pm, followed by Back to the Future at 7pm.

The following evening, Saundersfoot Harbour will host a premiere screening of Near and Distant Things, a new film by local filmmaker Emily Batty that was shot in and around Saundersfoot.

Sunset Cinema programme

Friday, July 17, Mackerel Quay, Milford Haven

Finding Nemo at 2.30pm
Back to the Future at 7pm

Saturday, July 18, Saundersfoot Harbour

Emily Batty’s Near and Distant Things at 7pm

Saturday, August 8, Saundersfoot Harbour

Shark Tale at 2.30pm
Jaws at 7pm

Saturday, August 15, Tŵr y Felin, St Davids

Jurassic World at 7pm

Friday, August 21, Milford Haven Port Authority

The Greatest Showman at 7pm

Friday, August 28, Pembroke Castle

How to Train Your Dragon at 2.30pm

Saturday, August 29, Pembroke Castle

Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet at 7pm

The Torch Theatre’s Sunset Cinema season will run from Friday, July 17, until Saturday, August 29.

Tickets can be booked through the Torch Theatre website or by calling the box office on 01646 695267.

NEYLAND CARNIVAL organisers have thanked the community, volunteers and local businesses who helped make this year’s event a memorable success.

Crowds lined the streets on Saturday, July 11, as a colourful parade made its way through the town before the celebrations continued at Neyland RFC.

Organisers said the day had exceeded expectations, with families turning out in the sunshine to support the parade, musicians, stalls and activities.

Posting after the event, Neyland Carnival said: “Yesterday certainly didn’t disappoint. What a fantastic day we had.

“We hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. It’s always great to see how well the carnival is supported.

“Thank you to all that entered the parade and to everyone that lined the streets.”

Organisers also thanked Margaret and Malcolm, who served as the town’s King and Queen, along with everyone who entered the parade and helped create the floats and costumes.

Audrey John donated fabric to help decorate the Prince and Princess float, while Becki Lorch provided hair styling for the princesses.

Sinclair Neyland supplied the vehicle used by the town’s King and Queen, with John Gidman acting as driver.

Neyland RFC provided the use of its pitch, with members of the junior section helping with the clean-up. The Hub and its staff were also thanked for hosting and supporting the event.

Green Light Traffic Management provided vehicles and helped manage traffic, supported by Valero volunteers and other volunteers working on the gates and road closures.

The carnival’s three main sponsors were Ron Skinner & Sons, Community Interest Care and Neyland Town Council.

Further sponsorship was provided by Hart Windows & Doors, The Plaice to Eat, No Mercy Wrestling and Cleddau Memorials.

Organisers also thanked Rob Hymers for providing the stage, Communic8 for equipment hire, Phil Haskett-Smith for photography, Junk Monkey for skip hire and Pro Scaffolding Pembrokeshire.

Rose and Willow helped keep children hydrated during registration, while Arthur Day managed the carnival field.

Thanks were also extended to all of the musicians, stallholders and volunteers who supported the event, including those who returned on Sunday morning to help with the clean-up.

Stuart Rice was thanked for helping with advertising.

The parade was judged by Neyland Mayor Peter Hay, Pembroke Dock Mayor Tony Wilcox and Neyland East county councillor Simon Hancock.

Organisers said the strength of support from residents, businesses and volunteers had once again shown the community spirit behind one of Neyland’s most popular annual events.

Pictures: Neyland Carnival / Pembrokeshire Herald

Pembrokeshire MP says customers have already paid substantially more while the company’s environmental and operational performance has continued to fall

HENRY TUFNELL has launched a blistering attack on Welsh Water after its new chief executive suggested customers must either accept higher bills or wait longer for improvements to the company’s ageing infrastructure.

The Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire said Welsh Water “still don’t get it”, arguing that household bills have already risen sharply while the company’s performance has deteriorated.

In a video published on Friday (July 10), Mr Tufnell said customers were being asked to pay again for failures which had developed over many years.

He said: “The new chief executive of Welsh Water has said that if customers want better service, they will have to pay more.

“But bills have already been going up, while performance has been going down.

“In the last year alone, Welsh Water has been handed a £44.7 million penalty for serious failures in the way it manages sewage and wastewater.

“The public should not be asked to keep paying more while those at the top avoid responsibility.”

Alongside the video, Mr Tufnell wrote: “Their new chief exec says that bills must go up to improve their infrastructure. However, bills have been going up and their performance has gone down.

“As your MP, I have been working hard in Parliament to scrutinise our failing water sector, and I support the steps this government has taken to strip water bosses of their bonuses and fine underperformance.”

Higher bills or slower improvements

The row follows comments from Welsh Water’s new chief executive, Roch Cheroux, who said the company faced a choice between investing more to improve services quickly or taking longer to repair and modernise its network.

Mr Cheroux said years of under-investment and ageing infrastructure meant significant spending was required to reduce leaks, improve water quality and cut sewage discharges.

“We are at a point where we have a choice,” he said.

“We can invest more and improve faster, or take longer to get there.”

But Mr Tufnell argues that customers have already been presented with substantial increases without seeing the level of improvement they were promised.

Average Welsh Water household bills rose sharply in 2025 as the company began a five-year investment period. Senedd Research said average bills increased by around 27%, with an overall rise of approximately 42% expected by 2030.

Welsh Water then announced a further 4.8% increase for 2026-27, taking its stated average annual household bill from £652 to £683.

Individual bills vary significantly depending on whether a property has a meter, its rateable value and whether the customer receives water, sewerage or both services.

The increases are intended to support an investment programme which Welsh Water says is needed to replace ageing pipes, improve treatment works, reduce pollution and make supplies more resilient.

However, the rises come against a backdrop of repeated regulatory criticism.

‘Lagging behind’ for four consecutive years

Ofwat’s most recent published company performance assessment ranked Welsh Water as “lagging behind” for the fourth consecutive year.

The company was performing worse than its target in seven of the 12 areas assessed.

Natural Resources Wales also maintained Welsh Water’s two-star environmental rating, meaning that the company “requires improvement”, for a third consecutive year.

Regulators recorded 155 water supply and sewerage pollution incidents attributed to Welsh Water during 2024, including six serious incidents. It was the highest number of incidents recorded for the company in a decade.

Welsh Water has said its storm overflow figures improved during 2025, with the total number of hours in which overflows operated falling by around 18%.

However, sewage discharges across Wales remained extensive. Analysis of published monitoring data by The Rivers Trust recorded 94,974 discharges during 2025, lasting a combined 777,545 hours.

Storm overflows are intended to prevent homes and businesses being flooded when sewage systems are overwhelmed by rainwater. An overflow activation does not automatically mean that a company has acted illegally, and the monitoring data does not show the volume or precise contents of each discharge.

Nevertheless, campaigners argue that the frequency and duration of their operation demonstrate that the sewer network is routinely unable to cope.

Analysis of Welsh Water monitoring data by the campaign website Top of the Poops estimated that overflows within the Mid and South Pembrokeshire constituency operated 5,944 times during 2025, for a combined 56,669 hours.

The figures cover 104 monitored locations and include discharges affecting rivers, streams, estuaries and coastal waters across the constituency.

£44.7 million enforcement package

Pressure on Welsh Water intensified in June when Ofwat confirmed a £44.7 million enforcement package after finding “serious and unacceptable” failures in the company’s wastewater operations.

The regulator found that Welsh Water had failed to properly operate, maintain and upgrade sewage treatment works and sewer networks so that they could cope with the amount of wastewater entering the system.

It also identified inadequate company processes and insufficient oversight by senior management.

The action is sometimes described as a fine, but it is technically an enforceable package of undertakings. The money is not paid to the Treasury.

Welsh Water must instead spend £40.6 million on work to reduce spills, address groundwater entering the sewer network and limit environmental damage.

A further £4.1 million must be spent on improving river quality in environmentally sensitive catchments.

The package is to be funded by the company rather than being added to customer bills.

It followed separate action in 2024, when Welsh Water agreed a £40 million redress package after Ofwat concluded that the company had misled customers and regulators about its performance on leakage and household water consumption.

Welsh Water defends investment programme

Welsh Water insists that significant progress cannot be delivered without major investment.

The company operates as a not-for-profit business with no shareholders. It says financial surpluses are reinvested in services, infrastructure and support for customers rather than being distributed as dividends.

Welsh Water says it invested £617 million in its water and wastewater network during 2025-26, including £134 million on environmental improvements and £120 million on water quality and network resilience.

Its wider programme proposes more than £4 billion of investment between 2025 and 2030, including around £2.5 billion on environmental work.

Mr Cheroux, who formally became chief executive at the beginning of 2026, has also begun a major company transformation programme intended to improve performance, restructure the organisation and develop a new long-term strategy.

The company’s position is that the cost of upgrading thousands of miles of underground pipes, sewers and treatment infrastructure must ultimately be recovered through customer bills.

Critics, however, say Welsh Water must demonstrate that the additional money will produce measurable improvements rather than asking customers to accept repeated increases based on future promises.

Tufnell backs tougher action against water bosses

Mr Tufnell, who serves on the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said he had been using his position in Parliament to scrutinise the water industry.

The Water (Special Measures) Act introduced powers allowing Ofwat to block bonuses for senior executives where companies fail to meet environmental, customer service or financial standards.

The legislation also introduced potential criminal liability for executives who obstruct regulatory investigations or conceal illegal sewage discharges.

Mr Tufnell said: “For too long, water companies have been allowed to underperform while customers pick up the bill.

“That has to change.

“We have introduced legislation to stop bonuses being paid to the bosses of failing water companies and to make senior executives criminally accountable when they cover up wrongdoing.

“Welsh Water must now invest properly in its infrastructure, clean up our rivers and seas and give customers the service they are already paying for.”

Pembrokeshire waterways under pressure

The MP said protecting Pembrokeshire’s rivers, coastline and estuaries was not simply a national political issue but an immediate local concern.

He highlighted his work with The Cleddau Project and Surfers Against Sewage, both of which have campaigned for improved monitoring, stronger enforcement and faster action to protect local waterways.

Mr Tufnell said: “Locally, I am proud to work with community groups like The Cleddau Project and Surfers Against Sewage to collectively protect our waterways.

“I am committed to protecting and restoring our county’s beautiful waterways.”

The central question facing Welsh Water is no longer whether its infrastructure requires investment. The company, regulators, politicians and environmental groups broadly agree that it does.

The dispute is over who should bear the cost, how quickly improvement should be delivered and why customers should trust Welsh Water to produce better results after years of rising bills, regulatory intervention and declining performance.

For households in Pembrokeshire, Mr Tufnell’s message is clear: customers have already paid more, and Welsh Water must now prove it can deliver.