News

Nobody happy with 12.5% Council Tax compromise

Published

8 months ago

March 7, 2024

THE QUESTION was who would blink first.

Would councillors vote down the budget and Council Tax proposals, plunging the Council into turmoil, or would there be a last-minute deal?

A deal, there wasn’t.

But, faced with the possibility of Independent Group councillors and Conservatives banding together to block the budget, the Cabinet did offer a compromise.

That compromise – a 12.5% Council Tax rise this year – finally passed after a debate that involved more officer input than any previous budget.

The Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal, Rhian Young, faced with allegations that officers had engaged in “strongarm” tactics intended to intimidate well-known nervous nellies David Bryan, Michael Williams, and Mike Stoddart, carefully explained—three times—that she and the Council’s Director of Resources had been asked by several councillors what would happen if the Council did not set a budget. To inform all councillors and avoid confusion, they emailed their response to all of Pembrokeshire’s county councillors.

The CEO, Will Bramble, clearly exasperated by being asked the same question three different ways by three different councillors, deferred to Ms Young to reply on matters of procedure.

The Director of Resources, Jon Haswell, carefully explained his reservations about a 12.5% Council Tax rise.
Too many councillors were stuck on transmit and too few on receive.

So Mr Haswell had to repeat them. Twice.

During a break in proceedings caused by an equipment malfunction, the disembodied voice of a couple of councillors could be heard.

One, easily identifiable as Cllr Mike Williams, lamented that the connection indicator was “just going round and round”. He paused and added: “Like this morning, really.”

And that’s what it was like.

In truth, Cllr Williams’s observation about the proceedings was not his best contribution to the meeting.

After Cllr Alec Cormack moved the main budget motion, the Council’s Deputy Leader, Paul Miller, moved to suspend standing orders to place an amended budget before the Council.

After lunatic procedural shenanigans, Councillors eventually voted to let Cllr Miller lay his amendments and speak to them.

12.5% – more out of reserves, a different approach to the leisure budget, a restructure of back-office functions – and the proposed Council Tax rise fell from 16.31% to 12.5%.

Cllr Jamie Adams did his best to respond, but the killer blow came from Mike Williams.

The Tenby North councillor wondered if Cllr Adams opposed a 12.5% increase and the amended budget fell, would he then support a 16.31% rise as that was the only other proposal on the table?

There was no snappy comeback to that one.

Cllr Williams had shot Cllr Adams’s fox.

Cllr Adams wriggled and tried to get Jon Haswell to come to his aid. Unimpressed as the Director of

Resources was by a 12.5% Council Tax rise, he wouldn’t do Cllr Adams’s job for him.

Through gritted teeth, Jon Haswell said he was satisfied the 12.5% rise met the Council’s obligation to set a balanced budget for the coming financial year.

He added, however, that next year’s budget would be trickier than forecast.

Conservative Group Leader Di Clements expressed her reservations about the last-minute changes to the budget.

Her principal concern was that the figures used to justify a 12.5% rise had to be taken on trust, as they had not been scrutinised.

She also observed, with frustration, that waiting until the last minute to pull a budgetary rabbit out of a hat was not good for building consensus.

It all looked to be drifting to a vote when, with a speech written and not wanting to waste his opportunity to get his deathless oratory into the record, Cllr Jamie Adams moved to give more time for speakers to address the amendment.

Cllr Adams’s speech wasn’t about the amendment.

First, taking the good points he made, local government funding is a mess. Wales has far too many councillors. The local government system is deficient. How councils get grants and what they are allowed to spend them on is wrong.

So far, so good. Nothing to disagree with there.

However, Cllr Adams then decided that with a speech written for a debate that wouldn’t happen, he had to score some political points.

Cllr Adams complained that the administration hadn’t been bolder with Council Tax increases in the past to avoid the present crisis.

Cllr Adams did not acknowledge that he and the IPG had opposed and engaged in guerilla warfare against the Council Tax rises that would have avoided the present crisis.

The Cabinet, Jamie Adams declared, was too focused on the jam and not the bread and butter issues.
Councillor Adams failed to mention the number of white elephants he’d left littering the capital budget.

Cllr Adams said the current administration had been in place for seven years, so banging on about the previous one’s addiction to the “Lowest Council Tax in Wales” was jolly unfair. Put a pin in that thought.

Cllr Adams then mentioned he’d examined the figures behind the Children’s Social Care budget and accused Cllr Paul Miller of sleeping on the job for not paying attention to it. Put a pin in that thought.

Finally, Cllr Adams said the Cabinet had only cobbled together a compromise because it knew it would otherwise lose the vote and its remaining time in office was short.

Step forward, Cllr Tessa Hodgson.

She began gently. Cllr Adams, she reminded him, had been the only person in the room to mention the previous administration and the lowest council tax in Wales. Nobody had mentioned his administration.

She said the Cabinet, of which she is a member, is focused on the here and now.

She then reminded Cllr Adams of how the Cabinet works. Cllr Miller does not have the Social Care portfolio; Cllr Hodgson does.

Highlighting the IPG’s old boys’ nature, she suggested that instead of addressing his remarks at Paul Miller, he should address them to her. The implicit criticism of Cllr Adams for directing flak at the Deputy Leader because he is a member of the Labour Party was clear.

Cllr Hodgson not only defended the Council’s handling of the Social Care budget but also pointed out that unplanned and unanticipated cost increases in service delivery were, by their very nature, not something anyone could anticipate. The cost of delivering services had shot up, the demand increased, and the Council had to provide them.

There was no alternative budget on the table.

It was the sort of firm smackdown needed to draw a line under a fractious debate that spent more time speaking about what members said they felt about setting the budget than any real engagement with the budget itself.

When Cllr Miller’s amendment to the budget passed by 32-26, the Council had managed to dodge a bullet.

Having been marched up to the top of the hill by the IPG twice in the last year, the Conservatives will feel deflated.

They’ll be invited to hitch their wagon to the IPG again in May as the Independent Group tries to form another administration.

Who and what they’ll be able to rally behind is anyone’s guess.

News

2024 Sport Pembrokeshire Awards Finalists announced

Published

3 hours ago

November 15, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE finalists for the 2024 Sport Pembrokeshire Awards have been announced.

In total, 252 nominations were received and, following a selection meeting, the judging panel has named 39 finalists.

Matt Freeman, Manager of Sport Pembrokeshire, said: “I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to provide nominations.

“Every year it gets harder to narrow the nominations down to three finalists and once again the quality of the nominees was enormously high.

“The number and quality of nominees just shows the strength of the sporting scene here in Pembrokeshire.

All the finalists will be invited to a grand presentation ceremony at Folly Farm on Friday, November 29th, where the winners will be announced.

The ceremony will also reveal the winners of two further categories – the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman’s Special Achievement Award.

The awards are organised by Sport Pembrokeshire, Pembrokeshire County Council’s sport development team.

They are sponsored by Sport Pembrokeshire, Valero, Folly Farm and Pure West Radio.

The awards aim to recognise those people who have excelled in sport over the last 12 months, or who have given their time to coaching and organising grass roots sport.

Sport Pembrokeshire Awards 2024 – Finalists

(In alphabetical order)

Coach of the Year

Francesca Morgan (Swimming)

Philippa Gale (Netball)

Tom Richards (Tennis)

Female Sporting Achievement

Gracie Griffiths (Race Walking)

Helen Carrington (Powerlifting)

Seren Thorne (Shooting)

Male Sporting Achievement

Jeremy Cross (Tennis)

Rhys Llewellyn (Athletics)

Sam Coleman (Powerboat Racing)

Boys (U16) Sporting Achievement

Carter Heywood (Football)

Hugo Boyce (Cycling)

Ned Rees-Wigmore (Hockey)

Girls (U16) Sporting Achievement

Cerys Griffiths (Swimming)

Chloe John-Driscoll (Shooting)

Ffion Bowen (Football)

Disability Sport Award

Evelyn Thomas (Powerlifting)

Jules King (Crossfit)

Marc Evans (Cricket)

Junior (U16) Disability Sport Award

Finnley Walters (Boxing)

Jac Johnson (Gymnastics)

Lewis Crawford (Boccia)

Unsung Hero

John Laugharne (Rugby)

Owen Shanklin (Pool)

Sue Christopher (Surf Lifesaving)

Team Achievement of the Year

Alan Evans, Andrew Evans & Michael John (Short Mat Bowls)

Fishguard & Goodwick Ladies Hockey Club

Pembrokeshire County Bowls Team

Junior (U16) Team Achievement of the Year

Chaos Thunder U12’s Netball Team

Hakin United AFC u16’s

Neyland Yacht Club Junior Sailing Team

Young Volunteer of the Year

Anna May (Tennis & Surfing)

Caitlin Chapman (Netball)

George Richards (Cricket)

Club Organiser

Nadine Tyrrell (Gymnastics)

Nick Shelmerdine (Cricket)

Paul Hudson (Short Mat Bowls)

Club of the Year

Camrose AFC Women & Girls Football

Haverfordwest Gymnastics Club

Strength Academy Wales Cymru

Pictured above: The 2023 Club of the Year winner – Pembroke Cricket Club.

Crime

Man jailed for Pembroke Dock cannabis farm involvement

Published

5 hours ago

November 15, 2024

Madeline Knox

AN ALBANIAN man, Armando Beti, 37, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison at Swansea Crown Court on Friday (Nov 15) for his role in producing class B drugs.

Beti, who has prior convictions in 2022 and 2023, was arrested on October 3, 2024, at 10:00am after police found him hiding in a neighbouring building’s attic. The arrest followed a raid on the former Woolworths building on Dimond Street, Pembroke Dock, where officers discovered three rooms containing 594 cannabis plants. The crop was described as part of a wholesale operation, with an estimated street value of between £64,000 and £196,000, depending on yield.

Using an aerial drone, police tracked Beti as he attempted to escape by crossing two rooftops. He pleaded guilty immediately after his capture, claiming the cannabis farm was already operational when he arrived 10 days earlier. Beti described himself as merely the gardener, tasked with watering the plants, and alleged he was coerced into the role by individuals he met at an immigration detention centre to repay a debt.

Beti’s defence counsel stated: “He is under no illusion regarding the seriousness of his offending. He is eager to start his prison sentence so he can ultimately reunite with his wife in Albania.”

However, Judge Geraint Walters rejected Beti’s claims, citing a pattern of similar excuses in previous cases. The judge noted that Beti had been convicted in Cardiff in 2022 for cultivating over 600 cannabis plants, during which he also claimed to be a coerced gardener with little knowledge of the operation.

In delivering the sentence, Judge Walters said: “People like you need to understand that judges are not completely naive. We know what is going on. We are well aware of the activities of criminal Albanian gangs in this country, as are you.”

Police believe the operation uncovered in Pembroke Dock is linked to a wider network of organised crime targeting rural locations for cannabis cultivation.

Community

Pembs Agricultural Society’s Christmas Fair expands to an all-weekend event

Published

9 hours ago

November 15, 2024

Tom Sinclair

PEMBROKESHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY’S Christmas Fair will be an all-weekend event next month. The Christmas shopping extravaganza is all set to take place on Saturday, 14 December as well as Sunday, 15 December.

The Parkhouse building on the Haverfordwest Showground will be transformed into a Christmas paradise. There will be even more stalls this year with a wide variety of quality local businesses exhibiting as well as festive music, Santa in his Grotto and an outdoor food court.

Judith Roach and Emma Thomas, the event organisers, said, “We are excited to be able to announce that our Christmas Fair will be on for two days rather than just one this year. We continue to build on the success of last year’s event with twice the opportunities to attend and even more stallholders. It will be the perfect start to the festive season as the Parkhouse Building will be transformed into a one-stop-shop for those preparing for Christmas.”

The Fair will be open from 10am until 4pm and admission is free. Visitors will find unique gifts, handmade decorations, art and beautiful homeware. Some of the county’s very best food and drink producers will also have stalls to give visitors the opportunity to stock up on all their festive treats. From decadent chocolate brownies, fudge, festive spirits to Welsh cheeses, there’s something to tantalise everyone’s tastebuds. There will also be a range of outlets for ‘on the go’ eating and drinking.

One special guest at the event will be everyone’s favourite bearded gentleman in red – Santa will be taking time out from his busy schedule to attend the event. There will be a charge of £3 per child to visit Santa and all proceeds will go directly to Sandy Bear charity to support their work. Each child will receive a small gift from Santa as part of their visit. Parents can book in advance via the website: www.sandybear.co.uk/santa

Adam Thorne, Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society’s President is looking forward to the festive event. He said, “The Society would like to thank Judith and Emma for all the hours they have put in, voluntarily, to organise the two-day Christmas event. We’re delighted to be able to offer visitors the opportunity to do all their Christmas shopping whilst enjoying the festive atmosphere.”

Follow Pembrokeshire County Show’s Christmas Fair event page on Facebook for a full list of stallholders in the run up to the event.