News

Lottery to claw back £182k grant cash

Published

8 years ago

August 16, 2016

WEDNESDAY’S (Jul 27) routine meeting of the County Council’s Corporate Governance Committee, called to approve last year’s accounts, moved beyond the humdrum when Councillor Mike Stoddart raised questions about an item showing that £182,000 will need to be repaid to the Heritage Lottery Fund because of irregularities in a grant scheme in Pembroke Dock.

‘THINGS HAVE NOT GONE RIGHT’

The Meeting began with Chief Financial Officer, Jon Haswell, outlining the annual returns of the past year. He stated: “The council still does not have a commitment to future school funding.” He also briefly discussed the effects of Brexit on the Welsh economy, outlining that: “Whilst Brexit may pose a risk—it may also be an opportunity.”

Chairing the Committee, Councillor Ken Rowlands said: “It’s good to hear this is a positive report – we are leading the way for others to follow.”

However, Ian Westley, Chief Executive, had a different view of the Council’s financial returns and told the meeting: “There is an acknowledgement that things haven’t gone quite right.”

Head of Finance, Jon Haswell, raised issues relating to Cleddau Bridge, informing the meeting that problems have still not been resolved relating to toll funding.

Mr Haswell told members of the Committee he anticipates that in the next financial year, the Council will move forward with plans to improve the existing toll structure, stating: “Things haven’t been corrected where they might have been in the past.”

Councillor Bob Kilmister expressed concerns that the council had opted to bank an extra £3.6m in school reserves and also questioned why Council funding had been reduced, with a shortfall of £137M within the coming year.

Cllr Kilmister asked: “I’d really like someone to explain how things have gone so wrong.”

MORE GRANT TO BE RETURNED

Raising the question of the funding clawback, Councillor Stoddart suggested that not everything was as Councillor Hall made out, and pointed members to a short paragraph at the foot of page 99 of the accounts which informed members: ‘A review of the Pembroke and Pembroke Dock Townscape Heritage Initiative (PDHLI) grant scheme by the Heritage Lottery Fund has identified the potential for grant claw back of up to £182,000 due to ineligible expenditure having been included in the claim’.

He asked for more details and Jon Haswell explained that this was the grant money that was currently the subject of a police investigation and that the Council was taking steps to recover irregular payments from the developer.

However, Mike Stoddart, who has spent the past three years uncovering flaws in the authority’s administration of various grant schemes, disputed this.

After he pointed out that the recovery of money referred to by Mr Haswell concerned the Commercial Property Grant Scheme funded by the Wales European Funding Office (WEFO) and the PDHLI funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund was an entirely separate issue, Mr Haswell conceded that he had been wrong to suggest that they were in any way connected.

Cllr Stoddart suggested that the confusion had arisen because the irregular payments (over £180,000 in each case) were similar.

“This means that my efforts have saved the taxpayer a total of £360,000 ,” he claimed.

He also had some harsh words for the Wales Audit Office (WAO), which he accused of sitting on its hands as the grant fiasco has unfolded.

Cllr Stoddart told the Committee that, more than a year ago, he had spent half a day at WAO’s base at Penllergaer explaining to officers how these grant irregularities arose, but nothing had been done.

He accused the WAO of being happy to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing because they consider £180,000 to be ‘petty cash’ and ‘beneath their dignity’.

TIME TO GET A GRIP

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Stoddart told The Herald: “It is time the council got a grip of this grant business. Following the complete failure to properly administer the CPGS scheme in Pembroke Dock, we now have the Heritage Lottery Fund seeking to claw back £182,000 from THI in the same town.

“It is ironic that this THI scheme was controlled by a committee chaired by Cllr Brian Hall, who was so keen to tell members how wonderful things were. And, only last week, I identified apparent flaws in the administration of a Property Developments Fund grant for an office block in Johnston.

This is public money, in one form or another, and the council has a duty to see that it is handled with the utmost probity,” he said.

News

Welsh Lib Dems urge First Minister to return dodgy donation

Published

3 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Tom Sinclair

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

Published

3 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Tom Sinclair

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

Published

6 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Tom Sinclair

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 30^th, 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