News
The Race is ON!
By Jon Coles
- Plaid take a hammering
- IPG gain support
- Labour gains
- Kilmister loses
- Conservatives hold firm
NEWLY-ELECTED members will have a crucial role following Thursday’s County Council election.
The Conservatives will be the largest political group based around a traditional party.
Labour improved its position and will likely end up with ten seats.
The Liberal Democrats have lost Bob Kilmister but won Kilgetty/Begelly and the neighbouring new ward of Amroth and Saundersfoot North with comfortable majorities.
Plaid has suffered serious reverses. Paul Rapi, Jonathan Preston, and Cris Tomos all lost their place.
Plaid also lost its grip on Boncath and Clydau, leaving it with two councillors. The Party of Wales has very little positive to take from the election.
The loss of those three councillors – one to the Conservatives and the other two to Independent candidates -damages incumbent leader David Simpson’s efforts to pull together disparate groups and individuals to form a coherent Cabinet.
However, the loss Cllr Simpson will feel keenest is Bob Kilmister’s.
Cllr Kilmister’s grasp of his Finance brief was a key factor in addressing the financial problems left behind by the previous administration.
However, he bore the burden of increases to Council Tax forced on the local authority after almost a decade of local government budget cuts.
The big gainers from the election are Jamie Adams’s IPG.
The IPG will almost certainly be the largest opposition group. Jamie Adams will doubtless be ringing round to persuade undecided councillors to join his group over the coming days.
He will not, however, be able to govern alone.
A loose IPG/Conservative agreement could form either a majority administration or a minority with sufficient support to get by issue-by-issue.
David Simpson, the current Council leader, faces a trickier task in assembling a coalition.
Unaffiliated councillors will remain the largest single bloc. Still, it will take all of their support, Labour support, Liberal Democrat support, Plaid Cymru support, and enough councillors elected as independent to stand by the word and not join the IPG for David Simpson to form an administration.
The reality is that only David Simpson has enough heft to pull such a coalition together and keep it together.
Faced with the IPG’s return, long-standing unaffiliated councillors will likely rally to the flag.
Again that depends on newly-elected members rejecting whatever titbits the IPG can offer them.
The next week will be vital to the formation of a new administration.
Whoever wins the battle to get enough councillors to form a Cabinet and then maintain an administration, the next five years of Council politics will be livelier and more uncertain than the preceding ones.
Business
First wind turbine components arrive as LNG project moves ahead
THE FIRST ship carrying major components for Dragon LNG’s new onshore wind turbines docked at Pembroke Port yesterday afternoon, 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 shortly after 4pm on Wednesday, 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, 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 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.
Weather conditions are currently favourable for this morning’s 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 next week, 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
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.
Local Government
Sewage leak at Pembroke Commons prompts urgent clean-up works
Council pollution officers say they have no enforcement powers over Welsh Water infrastructure
SEWAGE contamination on the Commons in Pembroke has prompted an urgent response from pollution officers, after a leak was reported by a member of the public on Tuesday.
Pembrokeshire County Council’s Pollution Control Team confirmed they were alerted yesterday afternoon to sewage surrounding a manhole cover on the site. The Herald understands that officers immediately notified Welsh Water (DCWW) network technicians to investigate the incident “as a matter of urgency”.
County councillor Jonathan Grimes, who represents Pembroke St Mary South and Monkton, said the authority had been clear that it holds no enforcement powers over Welsh Water assets.
“Whilst we work constructively with Welsh Water, we have no authority to intervene on their apparatus or to carry out enforcement action against them for such pollution incidents,” the Pollution Control Team said in a statement shared with the councillor.
Urgent works underway
Council officers visited the site on Wednesday morning alongside contractors and Welsh Water technicians to assess clean-up options. According to the team, works will include cleaning the contaminated ground in and around the manhole cover and fencing off the affected area “until safe”.
Cllr Grimes said officers would return to the scene on Thursday to check on progress and ensure the area is properly secured.
Residents who notice any further issues have been urged to contact the Pollution Control Team directly.
Further updates are expected later this week.
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