News
Motorworld building to be demolished
PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL have made the decision that the ‘Motorworld building’ at 70A-80A Charles Street, Milford Haven, should be demolished and passed onto a developer to be turned into housing.
At Monday’s (Apr 24) cabinet meeting at County Hall, members of the Cabinet said that the premises was not attracting any commercial interest, and that all the units in the dilapidated premises were empty.
Cllr Keith Lewis said to Cabinet:
“This is a site which was held in lease by a company by Libra. We agreed as Cabinet that we should take the building back into our control at some cost.
“This site is an eyesore in Charles street. We have failed to find anyone who is interested in these premises commercially. There was some interest shown by town council, and the police, but that has come to nothing.”
Cllr Lewis added: “I would like to see this morning that we authorise the director of development to move forward.
“We should demolish the building. We should pass this on to a developer as 100% residential development. We are paying money out. We cannot allow this waste to continue.
“We can finance this via the Town Centre Loan Fund”
Leader Jamie Adams added: “We have explored commercial opportunities for this site. It has long been an eye sore. It will provide some valuable accommodation. It will improve the street scene and put people in the heart of the town where all goods and services can be supported as well. It is a pragmatic solution at this juncture, rather than hanging onto this site any longer. It is time for action.”
The Cabinet passed the recommendation that the building be demolished and passed over to a housing association for redevelopment into new residential properties.
The decision has come as a shock to some business people in Milford Haven. The Mayor, Cllr Stephen Joseph told The Herald that he was not convinced that there had been enough effort to find commercial occupants for the property.
Speaking after the Milford Haven Town Council meeting on Monday night, Cllr Joseph said: “I have been keeping my eye on this property for a number of years. The last thing that I heard was that the police were going to take it over as a police station. I don’t know what happened to that proposal. I did not attend the Cabinet meeting, but I was surprised that the decision has been made so easily to turn this into a residential premises.”
“I think that the Council just want to sign it over for a £1 and then there will minimal costs to them.”
“The Council already have been offered £1.5m funding from the Welsh Government to re-develop the property commercially, but now we can expect that this money will be transferred to other projects.”
He added: “You can bet that if this property was in Haverfordwest, then more would have been done about it sooner. My view is that the Council have delayed getting things done because they were not sure what to do with the place. They should have got the property back sooner, before things got this bad.”
News
Welsh Lib Dems urge First Minister to return dodgy donation
THIS week in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have urged the First Minister to return the £200,000 donation he received from a company linked to environmental crimes.
Speaking to the Senedd on Wednesday, party leader Jane Dodds MS urged FM Vaughan Gething to return money donated to his campaign by Dauson Environmental, a refuse and recycling business owned by David John Neal.
Mr Neal received a 3-month suspended prison sentence in 2013 for illegally dumping waste at a conservation site on the Gwent levels.
His companies Atlantic Recycling and Neal Soil Suppliers were also prosecuted and given fines and costs of £202,000.
Then in 2017, Mr Neal was given another suspended sentence of 18 weeks, with fines and costs of £230,000 after failing to remove the waste.
The Welsh Lib Dems have called on the FM to return the donation, as part of wider calls for a shift away from the influence of “big money” in Welsh politics.
Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:
“This entire episode has casted a dark shadow upon Welsh democracy and has rightfully led to many questioning the integrity of Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign and the way our democracy works here in Wales.
Unfortunately for many of us this is hardly surprising, as our political system has been broken for quite some time now.
A system that empowers the elite donor class whilst simultaneously shutting out the voice of the voter is a perversion of democracy itself.
This is why our wider goal must be to remove the influence of ‘big money’ from Welsh politics once and for all.
We cannot have another government that prioritises the interests of its financial benefactors over those of the Welsh people.
We need to take a firm stance in rooting out the influence of cash in Welsh politics, for the sake of our communities we must start prioritising their interests and needs instead of having more self-serving politicians.”
News
Council seeking legal advice to address Withyhedge enforcement
PEMBROKESHIRE County Council says it has sought legal advice and is contemplating legal proceedings against Withyhedge Landfill operators RML, in regards to the ongoing odour issues at the site.
The Council intends to ask the Court for an injunction requiring RML to abate the public nuisance odour arising from the landfill. Failure to comply with the injunction would be contempt of court, which carries a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment and unlimited fine.
Following significant work undertaken by RML the Authority is disappointed that the problem has not been resolved and residents continue to be impacted by the odour.
Working in collaboration with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and Public Health Wales (PHW), we fully appreciate that the communities affected cannot tolerate this any longer.
NRW announced that the first set of deadlines for the completion of actions to tackle the ongoing odour issues at Withyhedge Landfill have been met, one week on following the issuing of further enforcement action on 18th April.
This will be closely monitored by NRW to ensure the operator complies with all the actions set out in Notice by 14 May.
It was deemed appropriate to wait until the operator had carried out mitigation to comply with the enforcement requirements by NRW prior to considering this additional action.
To that end, on 26th April 2024, the Council served RML with a letter of claim and invited them to give legally binding undertakings to abate the odour nuisance or face legal proceedings. The Council also asked for disclosure of documents relevant to the proceedings, including records of waste brought in or removed from the landfill.
The Council has given RML until 14th May 2024 to respond to its letter of claim. This aligns with the current deadline set by NRW under its enforcement notice.
Pembrokeshire County Council Chief Executive Will Bramble welcomed the move. He said: “We are extremely disappointed that RML has not delivered the necessary action to stop the completely unacceptable smells from the site.
“We fully support the additional enforcement action being taken by NRW and continue to work closely with them to do all in our power to correct the situation.
“Our intention to ask the Court for an injunction requiring RML to stop the odour nuisance arising from the landfill, is another part of our collaborative approach. The smell from Withyhedge is having a major impact on residents and visitors. This situation has gone on too long and it is unacceptable.”
News
Beautiful, funny and lovely: Family pay tribute to Sian Batchelor
THE family of a woman has paid tribute to a “beautiful, funny, lovely person.”
Sian Batchelor, aged 32, was found on a beach near Pennar, Pembroke Dock on Tuesday evening, April 30th, 2024.
Her family has issued a statement to say: ‘We are devastated by our loss. Sian was a beautiful, funny, loving person. We will treasure the good times we had with her.
“We would now like time to grieve and would ask to be given privacy in which to do so.”
The circumstances surrounding Sian’s death are being investigated and police would like to hear from anyone with information, sightings of Sian or contact from Sian, between Thursday April 25 to Tuesday April 30.
Police can be contacted either online at: https://bit.ly/DPPContactOnline, by emailing [email protected], or by calling 101. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired text the non-emergency number on 07811 311 908.
Quote reference: DP-20240430-284
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