News

City Deal scheme uncertainty as Port and Council argue over interest payments

Published

6 years ago

October 30, 2019

TIME is fast running out for vital funding for Pembrokeshire’s part of the controversial Swansea Bay City Deal.
The deadline for obtaining European funding, upon which the Pembroke Dock Marine project depends, is December this year, when European funding ends. The final business case for it is yet to be submitted, let alone approved.
If the business case is not approved by then, the future of the project – or at least its size – will be cast into doubt.
Next week, the County Council’s Cabinet is likely to approve the submission of the project’s business case.
The Port of Milford Haven, in partnership with Marine Energy Wales, ORE Catapult and Wave Hub, aims to develop what it calls ‘a world-class centre for marine energy research and development, fabrication, testing and deployment’.
History is not in its favour.
A key project at Ramsey Sound, Delta Stream, failed catastrophically. The submerged device claimed to be the forerunner to a major tidal power investment stopped working after three months. The company behind it, Tidal Energy Ltd, went bust. The scheme was extensively supported by the Welsh Government and EU funding.
A briefing document shows consideration of the Pembroke Dock Marine project has now become time-critical because of the probable loss of significant European funding if the project is not fully approved by the end of the calendar year.
A source close to the City Deal told The Herald getting the business case fully approved before the December deadline is ‘unrealistic’.
The Council will have to borrow up to £28m for the Pembroke Dock Marine project and will be ‘paid back’ (capital only, no interest by the Governments) over 15 years, with payments ‘theoretically linked to delivery and performance’.
The cost of borrowing for the Pembroke Dock Marine project is estimated to be £2.35m.
Wrangling between Milford Haven Port Authority and Pembrokeshire County Council over the interest on the money the Council will borrow to bankroll the Port Authority’s £76m Pembroke Dock Marine project has caused rancour between the partners.
The Port Authority says it cannot afford the interest charges, while the Council faces having to put money intended for other projects into the pot to make up the shortfall.
It is little secret Council leader David Simpson has misgivings about pouring such a large sum of public money into a single project instead of using the money to regenerate the wider local economy.
His concerns are shared by others involved in the City Deal’s governance and underlined by views expressed in the Deal’s external review that little evidence existed to show proposed projects would deliver the tangible benefits the Deal originally intended.
Certainly, Pembrokeshire will get the least out of the City Deal whether it succeeds or fails.
The City Deal, which is in the middle of reorganisation and is yet to recruit a programme director, has been plagued by governance problems and scandal almost since its outset.
An external review, by consultants appointed by the Welsh and UK Governments, concluded the City Deal’s governance system was unfit for purpose. It also found the Deal’s central control was so lax that incomplete proposals were treated as fully worked up plans.
A report prepared by Pembrokeshire County Council found failure by some City Deal participants to declare either personal or corporate interests and concluded: ‘It was evident through meetings with stakeholders that there is insufficient trust within the Partnership’.
The re-arrangement of governance and the need to build bridges left broken by internal strife across four local authorities, mean not a single penny of the millions promised by the UK and Welsh Governments has been received for any of the projects under the City Deal.
Individuals and companies formerly involved in Carmarthenshire County Council’s controversial Llanelli Wellness Village are under investigation by Tarian, the Regional Organised Crime Unit.

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.