A PETITION call to Pembrokeshire councillors, which raises concerns at the “hefty funds” needed to support its commitment to net zero, will be heard at full council.

Last July, councillors agreed to set up a group to review its own decision to declare a climate emergency some seven years ago.

In May 2019, the council declared a climate emergency following a notice of motion by Cllr Joshua Beynon calling on the authority to back the global consensus that climate change poses a risk to the well-being of future generations.

He had urged county councillors to back a motion to take “bold, decisive action” to fight “truly, catastrophic” climate change, with the council to committing to becoming a zero-carbon local authority by 2030.

At the July 2025 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, a successful notice of motion by the late Cllr Mike Stoddart called for the establishment of a working group to review that decision.

That led to a recent petition, by Lynda Duffill of West Wales Climate Coalition, which attracted 725 signatures, calling on the council to reaffirm its Declaration of a Climate Emergency, and retain the ambition to deliver Net Zero Council operations by 2030.

That petition was considered at the October 2025 meeting of full council; members agreeing the working group be asked to ensure the petition is included as evidence in its consideration of the matters referred to it by the council resolution in July 2025.

That has now led to a further petition, concerned at a potential increase in council tax from a re-affirmation of a Declaration of a Climate Emergency.

The latest e-petition, on the council’s own website, created by Carolyn Ellis, reads: “We call upon all elected members of Pembrokeshire County Council to support and to take seriously the working group tasked with the review of the ‘climate emergency’ called in 2019 (by the-then 21-year-old councillor Joshua Beynon) and to question the hefty funds needed to spend on ‘net zero’.

“We refer to the recent petition by the West Wales Climate Coalition which purports to speak for the residents and council tax-payers of Pembrokeshire.

“There is potentially a far higher number of residents who do not share this unsubstantiated view and who are extremely concerned about the potential for huge hikes in council tax, especially if this tax is linked in future to the carbon efficiency of homes and businesses.

“This was hinted at as a possible lever for encouraging ‘compliance’ with decarbonising homes in the ‘Better Homes, Better Wales, Better World’ report. Therefore, not only could we be faced with more taxes, but also inevitable deterioration in service provision by PCC.”

The current petition ran to March 26 and attracted 753 signatures.

Any petition of between 100 and 499 signatures triggers a debate at one of the council’s overview and scrutiny committees, and any over 500 a debate at full council.

AN APPEAL against a refusal of a call to convert an ‘unviable’ former Pembrokeshire village pub to a house has been lodged.

In a partly retrospective application refused by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in July 2025, Ms G Key, through agent Evans Banks Planning Limited, sought permission for the conversion of the former Taberna Inn and associated flat, Herbrandston Village, Milford Haven, to one residential dwelling.

Work started in March 2021 but has not been finished.

A supporting statement through the agent said: “We understand that the property was purchased by the applicant in November 2020 and operated for four months as a public house on the ground floor.

“The property has therefore remained closed as a public house since that date and only used for residential purposes by the applicant. This current application therefore seeks to regularise the situation and enable the properly to be used as a single residential dwelling.”

It says the loss of the pub to the village will not be felt as strongly as elsewhere as Herbrandston has an alternative venue, Herbrandston Hub, which opened in February 2020, and acts a successful community venue and centre for the settlement’s sports teams.

It adds: “The Pandemic had and continues to have many impacts on people’s lives and also their livelihoods, no more so than in the leisure and hospitality industries. With socialising patterns having now changed, many village public houses have found it impossible to continue to operate at anywhere near a viable level.”

Local community council Hebrandston objected to the proposal on the grounds the village has already lost amenities in recent years, with the community hub only open part-time.

The application was refused on grounds including it would “result in the unacceptable loss of an existing community facility,” and “the applicant has failed to demonstrate the potential for continued use of the facility as unviable”.

Since that refusal an appeal has been lodged with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) by the applicant.

The applicant, in appealing, says she bought the former pub in “a closed and near condemned condition” with it not cost-effective to keep running as a pub, adding it would not reopen as a pub under her ownership.

The appeal will be considered at a later date.

AN APPEAL against a refused scheme for a Pembrokeshire ‘battery box’ unit to provide electricity storage during off-peak times, has been lodged.

In an application refused by Pembrokeshire County Council in February, AMP Clean Energy sought permission for the construction and operation of a micro energy storage project at St Daniel’s Hill and St Daniel’s Drive, Pembroke.

That application was one of many AMP has submitted in the county.

A supporting statement accompanying the application said AMP’s battery boxes import electricity from the local electricity network when demand for electricity is low or when there are high levels of renewable energy available, exporting it back during periods of high demand to help address grid reliability issues prompted by an increase of intermittent (wind and solar) generation of the electricity system.

AMP Clean Energy says each box, which takes up roughly two car parking spaces, stores 800kWh of electricity, giving the potential to power 200 homes for four hours where there is a disruption to supply.

The statement added: “The UK’s electricity system was traditionally dominated by a small number of large power stations fuelled by fossil fuel (namely coal and natural gas). However, the system is now becoming increasingly supplied by intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

“Renewable power generation does not always match when the demand for electricity is highest. To overcome this, we need a more flexible energy system that allows us to shift renewable energy to the periods of the day when the demand for power is at its greatest.”

The application was refused on the grounds of potential noise impact on residents, it would “be wholly at odds with the established character and appearance of the area, eroding its rural qualities and introducing an incongruous and visually discordant element into the landscape,” and potential highway safety impacts through “driver distraction and encroachment into established sightlines”.

Since that refusal, AMP has lodged an appeal with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).

The appeal disputes the significance of any noise impact, and says the proposed installation is “compact, low-lying, and no more visually prominent than standard roadside utility cabinets commonly found across Pembrokeshire,” with the applicant “more than happy to provide wooden fencing as an alternative to screen the equipment and help it blend in better with the surrounding environment”.

Of the potential highway safety reason, it says: “The claim there will be an impact to highways safety is completely speculative and not based on any evidence whatsoever. This reason should be dismissed.”

The appeal will be heard at a later date.