News

Who owns Slebech Park?

Published

10 years ago

September 22, 2015

IT RECEIVED over £1m in public funding, but the ownership of the upmarket Slebech Park Hotel is shrouded in mystery , The Herald can reveal.

In 2003/2004 the local authority approved European Regeneration and Development Funding of £1,026,410 for the creation of a 38- bed residential conference centre, specifically designed to provide a premium level of accommodation and state of the art conferencing facilities. Further funding for the project was obtained from both the Welsh Tourist Board and the Welsh Government.

It was claimed the whole project would cost £6m, but later assessments of the investment placed the figure at nearer £4m, meaning that one quarter of the cost was borne by the public purse.

The prestigious hotel sank into administration in November 2011 and was placed on the market the following spring for £1.95m.

At the time, the hotel’s owner, Mr Geoffrey Phillipps, said that he hoped to buy the hotel back from the administrators.

In August 2013, it was announced that the hotel had been bought out of administration.

The investment was claimed to have protected the jobs of 20 full time staff employed at the venue while it was hoped the investment would create another 45 extra jobs over the next three years.

However, The Herald has discovered that the hotel and a portion of neighbouring land is owned by a company registered outside the UK for tax purposes.

Traverse Developments Ltd is shown as completing its purchase of Slebech Park in September 2013 for the sum of £1,826,615. The company is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The data has come to light following a series of articles in Private Eye magazine. Having linked thousands of land title registries to specific addresses and used the Freedom of Information Act, researchers managed to track all leasehold and freehold interests acquired by offshore companies between 2005 and 2014 and have placed that information online.

Property investment and development companies routinely use offshore corporate vehicles to own major buildings to achieve capital gains tax and stamp duty advantages.

And Slebech Park is by no means the only slice of land in the county to have a Caribbean connection.

In Milford Haven, a significant tranche of waterfront land on the opposite bank from the Blackbridge development site is owned by another BVI registered company.

Duncliffe Finances Ltd are shown as having purchased the land in 2008 for a stated price of £1.2m.

BVI companies are heralded on one incorporation site as ‘exempt from tax, suitable for virtually any international business activity, has a flexible organizational structure, is not burdened by excessive reporting and record-keeping requirements, and maintains strict confidentiality provisions’.

Confidentiality is one of the key features of the BVI Business Company as details of the company beneficial owners, directors and shareholders are NOT part of public record. Register of Members, Register of Directors and all Minutes and Resolutions by the Company are kept only at the offices of the Registered Agent in complete confidentiality.

It seems, therefore, that the benefit of over £1m of public money is being felt most keenly by shadowy shareholders of a secretive corporation based thousands of miles away whose main purpose is to avoid tax. For the avoidance of doubt, no assertion is made as to the involvement of the previous owners of Slebech Park in such a corporation.

News

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

Published

1 hour ago

December 4, 2025

Staff Writer

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.

Business

First wind turbine components arrive as LNG project moves ahead

Published

4 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST ship carrying major components for Dragon LNG’s new onshore wind turbines
docked at Pembroke Port yesterday afternoon last week, marking the start of physical
deliveries for the multi-million-pound renewable energy project.

The Maltese-registered general cargo vessel Peak Bergen berthed at Pembroke Dock on
shortly after 4pm on Wednesday 26th November, bringing tower sections and other heavy
components for the three Enercon turbines that will eventually stand on land adjacent to the
existing gas terminal at Waterston.

A second vessel, the Irish-flagged Wilson Flex IV, has arrived in Pembroke Port today is
due to arrive in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) carrying the giant rotor blades.
The deliveries follow a successful trial convoy on 25 November, when police-escorted low-
loader trailers carried dummy loads along the planned route from the port through
Pembroke, past Waterloo roundabout and up the A477 to the Dragon LNG site.

Dragon LNG’s Community and Social Performance Officer, Lynette Round, confirmed the
latest movements in emails to the Herald.

“The Peak Bergen arrived last week yesterday with the first components,” she said. “We are
expecting another delivery tomorrow (Thursday) onboard the Wilson Flex IV. This will be
blades and is currently showing an ETA of approximately 03:30.”

The £14.3 million project, approved by Welsh Ministers last year, will see three turbines with
a combined capacity of up to 13.5 MW erected on company-owned land next to the LNG
terminal. Once operational – expected in late 2026 – they will generate enough electricity to
power the entire site, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

Port of Milford Haven shipping movements showed the Peak Bergen approaching the Haven
throughout Wednesday morning before finally tying up at the cargo berth in Pembroke Dock.

Cranes began unloading operations yesterday evening.

The Weather conditions are currently were favourable for this morning’s the arrival of
the Wilson Flex IV, which was tracking south of the Smalls at midnight.

The abnormal-load convoys carrying the components from the port to Waterston are
expected to begin early next year, subject to final police and highway approvals.

A community benefit fund linked to the project will provide training opportunities and energy-
bill support for residents in nearby Waterston, Llanstadwell and Neyland.
Further updates will be issued by Dragon LNG as the Port of Milford Haven as the delivery
programme continues.

Photo: Martin Cavaney

Crime

Banned for 40 months after driving with cocaine breakdown product in blood

Published

4 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Sarah-Jane Absalom

A MILFORD HAVEN woman has been handed a lengthy driving ban after admitting driving with a controlled drug in her system more than ten times over the legal limit.

SENTENCED AT HAVERFORDWEST

Sally Allen, 43, of Wentworth Close, Hubberston, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Dec 4) for sentencing, having pleaded guilty on November 25 to driving with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the prescribed limit.

The court heard that Allen was stopped on August 25 on the Old Hakin Road at Tiers Cross while driving an Audi A3. Blood analysis showed 509µg/l of Benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of cocaine. The legal limit is 50µg/l.

COMMUNITY ORDER AND REHABILITATION

Magistrates imposed a 40-month driving ban, backdated to her interim disqualification which began on November 25.

Allen was also handed a 12-month community order, requiring her to complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities as directed by the Probation Service.

She was fined £120, ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £114 surcharge. Her financial penalties will be paid in £25 monthly instalments from January 1, 2026.

The bench—Mrs H Roberts, Mr M Shankland and Mrs J Morris—said her guilty plea had been taken into account when passing sentence.