Politics

Council prepares for elections

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2022

THAT’s it as far as County Council politics go for now.

The Notice of Poll for May 5’s County Councils publishes tomorrow (Friday, March 18) and nominations open for the next County Council term on Monday (March 21).

Those nominations close on Tuesday, April 5.

That’s not a lot of time to get your act together if the elections have come as a horrible surprise, but plenty if you’ve prepared yourself to stand as a candidate.

If not, you need the nominations of ten electors resident in the Ward for which you seek election. However, while the Council goes into pre-election purdah, The Herald does not.

I WANT TO BE ELECTED?

It’s not only Pembrokeshire County Councillors who will be elected on May 5.

On the same day, Pembrokeshire elects its town and community councils.

Pembrokeshire has ten town councils and sixty-seven community councils.

Town and Community Councils serve their community by exercising a range of statutory powers and duties with the aim of improving the quality of life in their locality.

Each council is made up of elected members. However, in many cases, councillors are returned unopposed or are co-opted. For example, only two of the current Haverfordwest Town councillors were elected in 2017, the remainder were co-opted to fill vacancies during the council term.

Whether that’s healthy for democracy or not is a separate debate; but Pembrokeshire leads the way in the proportion of county councillors who did not face the electorate in 2017.

Twelve of sixty county councillors were returned unopposed.

Community and Town councils are responsible to their local electorates for delivering a wide range of services and for the provision and upkeep of local amenities.

County Councillors have a duty to serve their communities and work with Council officers to provide services to the public. Most County Councillors are also Town or Community Councillors

County Councillors meet together regularly as The Council, where they decide overall policy and set the organisation’s budget for the year.

County Councillors might be nominated by fellow councillors to sit on certain committees, for example, the Planning Committee or one of the Council’s scrutiny committees.

The Council Leader is elected by Councillors at the beginning of the Council term and the Leader selects the Cabinet.

PEMBROKESHIRE’S STRANGE POLITICS

Pembrokeshire is unusual in Wales because it returns relatively few councillors who stand for political parties.

Out of sixty councillors at the last election, the Conservatives returned twelve councillors (now eleven following a by-election) Labour returned seven, the Liberal Democrats one, and Plaid Cymru six.

The remainder of the councillors all stood as Independents.

There are, however “Independents” and “Real Independents”.

The Independent Political Group, led by Jamie Adams, ran Pembrokeshire as a one-party state until 2017, when its vote collapsed.

The IPG’s current membership is twelve, although its membership is fluid and some members inch towards more traditional party colours.

The 2022 elections will be the first under new boundaries.

STANDING DOWN

Several councillors are not seeking re-election: those include Sam Kurtz MS, whose Scleddau Ward disappears. Cllr Kurtz could have resigned his seat on election to the Senedd but chose to remain to avoid the costs of a by-election.

He’s donated his councillor’s allowance to local projects. Cllr Josh Beynon steps down, as does veteran Johnston councillor Ken Rowlands. Cllr Rod Bowen steps down from Clydau.

Cabinet member Cllr Phil Baker announced he would step down in May and there are rumours that several other prominent councillors from around the county will not seek re-election, including at least two other members of the IPG.

The changing boundaries will almost certainly affect the council’s make-up. The important question for any candidate standing as an independent is whether they will remain independent or join the Independent Political Group – or any other party grouping.

TURNOUT THE VOTE

In addition, the turnout in local elections is so low that a prospective candidate might only need to rally a handful of extra votes to see off a split field. That was the case in Pembroke Dock Central and Milford Central last time out, where the margins of victory for Cllrs Paul Dowson and Stephen Joseph were tiny. Those margins were not, however, as tiny, however, as the two votes that saw Cllr Tony Baron returned as member for the now abolished Amroth Ward.

In General Elections to Westminster, there are often safe seats in which any opposition effort is token.

Generally, that’s not the case in Council elections – although standing against Cllr Tony Wilcox in Pennar can be a sobering experience for his opponents.

Votes cast in the tens rather than the hundreds or thousands make a genuine difference to election outcomes.

Our prediction for the next Council is that Labour will perhaps gain the odd seat, the Conservatives will lose the odd seat, the Liberal Democrats might gain a seat, Plaid Cymru could gain a couple of seats in the north and east of Pembrokeshire, the IPG might lose ground due to established members’ decisions not to seek re-election. The majority of members will be “Real Independents”, or as Cllr Mike Stoddart calls them “Dictionary Independents”.

Beyond that, Cllr David Simpson is likely to remain leader with some changes to his Cabinet (one enforced) for the first part of the new administration’s term.

Replacing Cllr Simpson will be a tricky job: Jamie Adams will want it but might struggle for cross-party support; an openly political leader from a party group is unlikely to succeed in forming a coalition for the same reason.

All of which might explain why Cllr Adams is keen to find someone to stand against current Cabinet Members, particularly the Cabinet Member for Transformation, Cllr Neil Prior.

News

Fresh questions over fire that ravaged Manorbier school

Published

21 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A senior Pembrokeshire councillor is to be quizzed on what progress has been made in recouping a £200,000 insurance excess paid by the council following the 2022 fire at a Manorbier school.

Manorbier Church in Wales VC School and its adjoining schoolhouse was severely damaged by a fire on October 11, 2022, which broke out in the school roof space.

Pupils and staff were successfully evacuated with no injuries, and a “school from school” was set up in Jameston Village Hall, after a brief period of sanctuary at the nearby Buttyland caravan site.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s insurers have previously said the fire was accidentally started while “hot works” were being carried out by contractors to renew an adjacent flat roof, but, as has previously been stressed, no liability had been accepted to date.

Councillors have previously heard the majority of costs were likely to be met from the council’s insurers, with the caveat of the unknown issue of liability and its effect on the £200,000 insurance excess.

A submitted question, by Councillor Aled Thomas, to be heard at the full council meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council on May 9, will ask Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language Cllr Guy Woodham “to update the chamber on what progress the Cabinet have made in recouping the £200,000 insurance excess paid following the devastating non-fault fire at Manorbier school”.

Councillors have previously been told by Cllr Woodham: “The legal issues are not straightforward but will be robustly taken forward.

“At this stage it’s still subject to legal discussion. The excess will be covered by a fund the council holds for insurance excess.”

He said that, if liability was found or accepted, the council would “pursue for the full maximum claim of the costs associated with the fire”.

Crime

Dafydd Llywelyn retains his post as our local commissioner

Published

21 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE result of the election for the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner election has been declared.

Plaid’s Dafydd Llywelyn retains his role as commissioner. He has held the role since 2016.

The result of the election is as follows:

Justin Mark Griffiths (Lib Dem) 7,719
Ian Harrison 19,134 (Con)
Dafydd Llywelyn 31,323 (Plaid)
Philippa Thompson (Lab) 18,353

Before the election, Dafydd Llywelyn promised: “As your current Commissioner, operational, front-line policing has, and always will come before party politics. I have a strong track record of delivering on my promises and of listening to the communities of Dyfed Powys. I am proud of what I have achieved since 2016, but there is still so much to do.

“I am an approachable individual and I believe in listening to all members of the community in order to shape a successful police force.

“Since 2016, I have increased resources whilst also retaining the lowest council tax levels in Wales. During that time, we’ve seen:

150 more Police Officers;

150 more Police Staff;
A CCTV system that is monitored 24/7 by police staff;
A dedicated rural crime team;
A focus on county lines drug dealing to target organised crime;
Investment in Youth Offending Teams to divert young people away from crime;
A new Offender Diversionary Scheme to reduce re-offending.

If re – elected:

I will safeguard Neighbourhood Policing resources retaining a visible local policing presence;
I will invest in the Communications Centre to ensure an accessible service;
I will continue to put the victim at the heart of the service and develop a truly victim led service;
I will work with operational staff to keep local police stations open;
I will invest in a new and refreshed School Police programme to deliver early intervention and preventative work;
I will prioritise working in partnership with organisations and agencies to safeguard the most vulnerable in society.

“Your safety is my top priority. I want to ensure that the Dyfed Powys Police Force remains one of the safest places to live in Wales and England.”

News

Pembroke Power Station hydrogen fuel production hopes rise

Published

21 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A public consultation on plans to develop a green hydrogen production facility next to Pembroke Power Station has been launched by energy company RWE Generation UK.

The technology uses the electrolysis of water to split into its constituent elements, hydrogen for fuel and power, and oxygen.

RWE, in its consultation, says: “RWE is progressing proposals to develop a green hydrogen production facility on RWE’s land adjacent to the existing Pembroke Power Station and has launched a statutory pre-application consultation to inform stakeholders and the community.

“RWE values the input of the local community and feedback will be used to inform the plans. RWE Pembroke Green Hydrogen will facilitate the generation of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced from water, using energy obtained from renewable sources.

“The hydrogen can then be used to decarbonise local industrial activities in South Wales, by displacing their current fossil fuel usage. The facility would be located on RWE’s site to the west of Pembroke Power Station and would benefit from being well-screened from local communities, while being accessed via the current power station access road.”

It adds: “It is expected that hydrogen generated by this facility for use in local industry would directly result in the reduction of approximately 93,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, helping to secure a more sustainable future for South Wales’ long-standing industrial heritage. This CO2 saving is the equivalent of removing 18,600 cars from the road each year.”

The 23.7ha development site proposed comprises of a 4ha main electrolyser area, a 1.5km hydrogen gas pipeline corridor, an electrical connection to a high voltage transformer all located to the west of Pembroke Power Station, and an area for connections into the Pembroke Power Station and a cable corridor for connection into the National Grid Substation.

The consultation documents say: “The proposed development is a green hydrogen electrolysis plant that will consume circa 100-110MW of electricity to produce around 2 te/hr green hydrogen gas for third-party uses unrelated to Pembroke Power Station. Including the balance of plant, the total energy consumption for the proposed development will be approximately 140MW.

“The consequent reduction in use of fossil fuels due to substitution by green hydrogen gas, and avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is a beneficial operational effect of the proposed development.”

It says development of the project is expected to take 24 months, and subject to as-yet unsubmitted full plans’ approval, could be built by early 2027.

The consultation runs to May 20.

A hydrogen fuel plant facility was given the backing of county planners last October, at the former Puma Energy site in Milford Haven.

H2 Energy Ecosystem UK Limited sought permission for the erection of an electrolysis hydrogen generation facility, and associated storage facilities and works at the Amoco Road site.