Politics

Future generations law ‘lacks teeth and funding’

Published

1 year ago

June 24, 2025

AN AMBITIOUS law aimed at ensuring future generations in Wales have at least the same quality of life as today lacks teeth and has a laughable budget, a committee heard.

The Senedd’s equality committee took evidence as part of follow-up scrutiny a decade on from the Welsh parliament passing the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in 2015.

Labour’s Mick Antoniw warned the Act, which aims to put sustainable development at the heart of decision making, lacks impetus and risks being a “bureaucratic tick-box exercise”.

Mr Antoniw, who was involved in early stages of scrutiny of the then-bill, said: “It started off… as a sustainability bill until no one could actually define what they meant by sustainability… came up with the term future generations and… that might be seen to be equally nebulous.”

As well as describing the Act as vague, the former minister suggested Wales’ future generations commissioner has few – if any – powers to hold public bodies to account.

He said: “I always thought that was a mistake right from the beginning, [you] don’t give it proper teeth to actually have the impact that shifts decision making.”

Calvin Jones, an environmental economist, said the commissioner and his predecessor told him their only “big stick” is to “name and shame” which they are reluctant to do. “As soon as you get the stick out, people take their eyes off the carrot,” he said.

“There’s this constant tension between wanting to chivvy the laggards along but realising once you get a reputation as somebody who’s an auditor effectively then games start being played and boxes start being ticked.

“That tension has always stymied the way in which the commissioners have been prepared to name and shame which was, I think, the only serious bit of teeth in the Act.”

Prof Jones, who left Cardiff University in May, suggested Audit Wales should have more of a role in holding public bodies to account in a similar way to their bookkeeping duties.

He warned of a major lack of funding for the commissioner’s office, describing the money allocated by the Welsh Government as akin to using a sticking plaster on the Titanic.

“Let’s remember we are trying to guide a £30bn public sector with a body which is funded to the tune of £1.6m per annum,” he told the committee. “Now that is absolutely laughable.”

The academic called for a legal duty to ensure at least a 0.1% “haircut” for every public body captured by the Act, generating a total of about £30m a year. “Without that, any future government that wants to hobble the office will just not give it money,” he said.

Eleanor MacKillop, a research associate at the Wales Centre for Public Policy, raised concerns about institutional complexity, with corporate joint committees, public services boards, regional partnership boards, corporate safeguarding boards and councils in Wales.

Jenny Rathbone, who chairs the equality committee, asked how the Act affects people’s daily lives, suggesting public bodies have failed to grasp it as a means to drive change.

Caer Smyth, a law lecturer at Cardiff University, said: “There’s not a clear way that an individual can see how the Act affects their right that they can then go and hold a body to account for. It is, I think, more opaque for that reason compared with other commissioners.”

Giving evidence on June 23, Prof Jones warned of a culture of “box ticking and backside covering” hampering innovation and transformation in the Welsh public sector.

He said: “We have consensus politics in Wales: it’s a consensus of 19 rabbits and a polar bear – the polar bear says what happens and all the rabbits say ‘yes sir, yes ma’am’.”

He questioned the ambition of some public bodies’ wellbeing plans, saying ministers similarly fail to set themselves stretching milestones and timescales they can be held to.

Prof Jones reflected on then-First Minister Mark Drakeford’s decision to scrap plans for an M4 relief road, pointing out that the decision letter did not refer to the Act as a reason.

He told the committee: “He said it’s because it’s too expensive and we have a different view of the environmental costs and a part of me thought: is that deliberate because if he places this ‘no’ on the basis of the Act, it’s going to be open to judicial review?”

But, on the other hand, Prof Jones said it would be difficult to imagine the Drakeford-led government pushing ahead with policies such as the default 20mph without the Act.

In written evidence, Derek Walker, who succeeded Sophie Howe in 2023, said the Act contains no specific enforcement mechanisms – making judicial review the only option.

The future generations commissioner wrote: “This is a difficult and costly procedure. It might mean only a class of people rather than individuals can use it.

“I understand that none of the very few attempts to use the Act in judicial review have obtained permission from the court to proceed.”

Local Government

Pembrokeshire council Cabinet finance roles under spotlight

Published

2 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

THE NUMBER of senior Pembrokeshire councillors holding the top finance job in recent years came under the spotlight at the July meeting of the council.

A submitted question by Cllr Alan Dennison, heard at the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council asked: “Since my election in 2022, this administration has experienced a turnover of four finance cabinet members, averaging one per year.”

Those four Cabinet members with responsibility for finance were: Cllr Alec Cormack, Cllr Joshua Beynon, Cllr Alistair Cameron, and former leader Cllr Jon Harvey who has now assumed the finance role.

Cllr Dennison’s question added: “This high turnover raises concerns about the stability of the council’s financial management, particularly in light of the current fiscal challenges and in light of the recent announcement by Finance Cabinet Member number 3 [Cllr Cameron] that under this administration there has been a staggering 97 per cent increase in council tax rates since 2017, in contrast to a mere 37 per cent rise in the inflation rate.

“Could the Leader explain the rationale behind these frequent changes in leadership and what apparent benefit this has to the Pembrokeshire ratepayers?”

Back in May, a previous submitted question by Cllr Dennison asked for the increase in council tax levels since 2017.

Cllr Cameron had responded by saying the level of council tax for a Band D average property had increased by 95.7 per cent in that time.

For the 2026 to ’27 financial year, the county council part of council tax levels in the county rose by 4.6 per cent, equivalent to an extra £76 for the average Band D property, less than half last year’s increase.

The previous year saw Pembrokeshire’s council tax increased by 9.35 per cent, lower than that year’s Cabinet recommendation of 9.85 per cent.

The previous year to that saw a 12.5 per cent rise on top of previous increases of 12.5 per cent, 9.92 per cent, five per cent, 3.75 per cent, five per cent and 7.5 per cent.

The overall council tax bill is made up of the county council element, the largest part, the Dyfed-Powys Police precept, and individual town or community council elements.

Responding to Cllr Dennison’s question at the July meeting, new leader Cllr Tessa Hodgson pointed out that he had got “his facts and figures wrong,” as she had only had cabinet member for finance under her leadership, Cllr Harvey, who was “doing a great job”.

Community

Contentious DARC space radar scheme to be decided by Welsh Government

Published

2 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

THE CONTENTIOUS DARC ‘space radar’ scheme in Pembrokeshire is to be decided by Welsh Government rather than county planners, just days before it was to be debated by them.

In an application submitted earlier this year to Pembrokeshire County Council following a public consultation, the Ministry of Defence wants to install 27 radar antenna and a long list of associated works at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy for a worldwide network of sensors called the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC) to track active satellites and other objects which would utilise three sites worldwide, part of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, in the USA, the UK and Australia “enabling 360-degree coverage of the sky at all times of day and under any weather conditions”.

In late 2023, Cawdor Barracks was identified as the preferred UK site by the-then UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps.

A supporting statement says of the DARC scheme: “This capability is critical to protect and defend the services provided by satellites, ensuring continuity and resilience against collisions or debris-related incidents.

“Without DARC, the UK faces a significant risk of losing access to these vital services, which would have severe consequences for national security, economic stability, and public safety.”

St Davids City Council members unanimously opposed the pre-application consultation proposals, and public objectors have raised concerns with protests taking place outside the barracks and County Hall, Haverfordwest earlier this year, and the scheme before county planners attracted more than 1,000 objections.

Pembrokeshire-based Jerome Flynn, famous for his roles in Soldier Soldier, Robson & Jerome and more recently Game of Thrones has described the scheme as “the most unspeakably abominable planning application led by the US military, backed by Donald Trump to place 27 radar dishes right on the edge of our beloved coastal national park”.

Campaign group PARC against DARC, set up in 2024 to oppose the scheme which it has described as the militarisation of space, submitted an official request to ‘call in’ the application for DARC radar to the newly formed Plaid Cymru Welsh Government.

A ‘call-in’ means the application could be decided at Welsh Government level rather than by county planners.

The application was due to go before Pembrokeshire County Council’s next planning committee, on July 28, but has now been ‘called in by Siân Gwenllian MS, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning.

The Cabinet Minister’s letter to Pembrokeshire County Council calling in the application says: “The proposed development raises national security issues given the strategic defence nature of the proposal and is a novel planning issue.

“The proposal potentially conflicts with national policy in relation to landscape, ecology, sustainability and placemaking.

“A decision on the proposal may be controversial beyond the immediate locality, and there is already considerable public interest in the proposal.

“All these matters lead the Cabinet Minister to conclude the development is of more than local importance and the application should be determined by the Welsh Ministers.”

A PARC against DARC spokesperson, welcoming the ‘call-in,’ said: “As we made in our case to Welsh ministers, the DARC proposal is part of a weapons system designed to track and target satellites belonging to other countries around the world.

“It is being developed for the US Space Force, which was created under Donald Trump, at a time when US military spending has doubled since he took office. That is why DARC has been described as a significant escalation in the militarisation of space.”

A planned demonstration at County Hall, Haverfordwest, due to be held on July 28 when Pembrokeshire planners were to deliberate on DARC, is to go ahead as “a vigil in support of Welsh Government’s call-in decision,” PARC against DARC has said.

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council said the call-in had been received on July 21.

“As such the application is transferred to the Welsh Ministers for a decision and the application will no longer be presented to the council’s planning committee at its meeting scheduled for July 28.

“The council now awaits confirmation from the Welsh Ministers regarding the procedure and timetable that will be adopted for their consideration of the application.

“Further information will be provided once the council has been formally notified of the next steps in the decision-making process.”

Local Government

Call to end special planning delegation panel

Published

3 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A CALL to bring to an end a special Pembrokeshire council panel which decides whether some planning applications should be considered by councillors rather than planning officers is to be discussed further.

A notice of motion submitted by Councillor Huw Murphy to the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council asked: “That council consider disbanding the Planning Delegation Panel (PDP) and review the current arrangements so that planning applications delegated to officers for refusal, where a member requests further consideration, are referred directly to the Planning Committee rather than first being considered by the PDP.”

His supporting statement said: “Under the current arrangements within Pembrokeshire County Council, where a planning application has been delegated to officers and a refusal is recommended, the local county councillor may request that the application be considered by the PDP.

“The PDP then determines whether the application should proceed to full planning committee. It is considered that this additional stage introduces unnecessary bureaucracy into the planning process, leading to increased delays and costs for applicants.

“The current process can also be perceived as limiting democratic oversight, as applications may be refused by the panel without being considered by full planning committee, whose elected members bring local knowledge, experience transparency and democratic accountability to planning decisions.

“By comparison, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, which is responsible for planning across more than 30 per cent of the land area of Pembrokeshire, does not operate a planning delegation panel. Instead, planning matters are considered through its established planning procedures, and this approach appears to function effectively without the need for a PDP.”

His supporting statement ended: “The removal of the PDP should simplify decision-making, reduce bureaucracy, improve transparency and democratic accountability, and reduce the workload of Democratic Services.”

At the July meeting, members agreed the notice of motion would be referred to the council’s constitutional review committee for further consideration.