Politics
Corporate greed blamed for rising veterinary costs

VETERINARY care is unaffordable for many pet owners in Wales due to “ridiculous” price increases fuelled by corporate greed, a committee heard.
Caroline Allen, chief veterinary officer at RSPCA Cymru, said a survey found more than half of Welsh pet owners were worried about being able to afford vet bills.
She told the Senedd’s petitions committee it is a challenging time for the animal rescue sector due to inflation and the wider cost-of-living crisis.
Dr Allen, a practising vet for 20 years before joining the RSPCA, said 78% of pet owners reported an increase in bills and 90% were worried about feeding their pets.
She explained that when she qualified many practices were owned by vets and embedded within the community, but most have since been bought by big businesses.
Calling for reform of the “outdated” Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, Dr Allen said vets can be held to account under the law but corporate entities cannot.
She said the RSPCA has had to withdraw direct services for the public to focus on its core role of helping animals suffering neglect and cruelty.
Carlie Power, representing the Cats Matter charity, described price increases as ridiculous, hitting out at a “continuous greedy rise in profits”.
Giving evidence to an inquiry on the corporate takeover of the veterinary profession, Ms Power told MSs she had to pay £62 for three days’ worth of eyedrops for her cat.
She said it cost a total of £52 to have one of her cats, Dolly, neutered seven years ago but she recently took another cat, Nix, and was billed £159 – an increase of more than 200%.
Ms Power, who has five cats, warned that responsible owners cannot afford to get their pets neutered, which piles yet more pressure on shelters.
She raised a Daily Mirror article on veterinary practices in Turkey offering cut-price treatment due to rising costs in the UK. Dr Allen warned this could lead to “hideous welfare problems”.
Peredur Owen Griffiths, who has two cats, called Treacle and Marmalade, and once wanted to be a vet, asked witnesses how the profession has changed over the past 25 years.
Sue Paterson, president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, told the Plaid Cymru politician that practice structure, facilities, workforce and education are the four big changes.
She said 41% of Wales’ 351 practices are corporatised, with around 150 owned by the “big seven”, which is lower than elsewhere in the UK.
Dr Paterson warned the Royal College cannot regulate veterinary practices, saying: “We can only regulate veterinary professionals – that is a huge hole in the regulatory process.”
Julia Mewes, who set up The Mewes Vets as an independent practice 28 years ago, raised concerns about other vets working on commission, saying she does not set financial targets.
She warned this has created anxiety, an unpleasant atmosphere and competition between colleagues, rewarding the best at selling rather than the best at caring.
Jack Sargeant, the Labour committee chair, who has a cavalier king Charles spaniel, named Coco, highlighted the Competition and Markets Authority’s concerns about the sector.
Peter Fox, the Tory MS for Monmouth, who has been a farmer for 30 years, cautioned against demonising the private sector, pointing to positive advances in treatment.
The short inquiry was prompted by a 308-name petition submitted by Linda Joyce-Jones, a campaigner, who warned that corporatisation has had devastating consequences.
Dr Joyce-Jones explained that a change of law in 1999 allowed practices to be owned by not only qualified veterinary surgeons, paving the way for big business.
Describing the profession as barely recognisable now, she wrote: “In many parts of Wales, it is virtually impossible to find an independently run veterinary practice.
Dr Joyce-Jones said corporations also own laboratories, drug companies, and pet crematoriums, as well as shares in many pet food businesses.
She warned: “Such a monopoly makes the few remaining independently run practices’ presence virtually untenable.”
News
Withyhedge site monitoring cost the council £170,000

PEMBROKESHIRE County Council’s monitoring of the controversial Withyhedge landfill site and unsuccessful legal challenge cost it nearly £170,000, councillors heard.
Last October, Pembrokeshire County Council went to court to seek an interim injunction against operators RML after asking it to give a legally binding undertaking to stop the odour coming from Withyhedge Landfill, near Haverfordwest.
The legal action came after months of residents complaining of foul odours and potentially harmful gasses coming from the landfill site.
A circuit judge found that the tip was causing nuisance, but believed that the council had gone about its application in the wrong way, refusing to grant an interim injunction.
The authority’s legal counsel had recommended the council appeal that decision, but this was not done due to costs involved and the situation at the tip had improved.
A report, presented by Cabinet member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett at Pembrokeshire County Council’s March 6 meeting, said: “Although our legal counsel did not believe this decision was correct and recommended an appeal, the Authority was in a difficult position when considering the costs of appealing and the costs outlay already incurred for taking the court action, as well as the provision of independent air quality monitoring and officer time dealing with this issue.
“This was due to the potential financial exposure considered against the fact that a marked improvement in the situation has been noted. We would like to stress that it is firmly believed that the legal pressure the council had placed on the operator in the period from April to October 2024 had a significant impact on the efforts and pace of the remedial works undertaken by the operator.
“Legal costs were ordered to be paid by the Authority in the sum of £169,110.87, although the actual sum was reduced by agreement to £100,000.”
The report also detailed other financial implications for the council: “Costs for air quality monitoring, legal and ancillary costs for translation of reports and some staff overtime in out of hours monitoring total £166,544 [to date]. This figure includes the additional static monitoring until 31 March 2025.”
Members heard that complaint numbers to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and PCC have been low since early January 2025 when waste tipping started again, other than a peak in mid-January from a Ricardo static monitor located at Spittal School, but were “not considered to be emanating from the landfill site,” with site inspections “indicating that the operator is following revised waste acceptance procedures which have previously been reviewed and accepted by NRW”.
Funding from Pembrokeshire County Council and Natural Resources Wales has been secured to allow the air quality monitoring via the static monitor at Spittal School to continue until March 31, but would cost £57,215 for an extra year, members heard.
Members agreed to note the report and to continue the air quality monitoring at Spittal school, reviewed on a quarterly basis, dependent on air quality results and the level of community odour complaints received.
Health
Planned west Wales ‘super hospital’ on hold for a decade

A CALL for an urgent meeting between Pembrokeshire’s leader and the local health board has been made after the board recently identified nine ‘fragile’ areas of service.
Late last year, Hywel Dda University Health Board stated a planned new west Wales hospital, based at either Whitland or St Clears, would not be up-and-running for at least a decade.
That scheme would see both Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest and Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen being ‘repurposed’, with community hubs developed.
In the meantime, the board heard services across the UK have consolidated and standards increased and Hywel Dda risks falling significantly behind other areas with consequences for patient care and staff recruitment, with work to support nine ‘fragile’ services in the interim of a new hospital already begun.
The board’s executive director of strategy and planning, Lee Davies said at the time: “In the absence of a new hospital in the south of our area to address challenges, we need to consider other options to bring together some of our services.
“We anticipate the emerging model, informed by work on the Clinical Services Plan, will seek to build on the strengths of each of the hospital sites in a way that builds complementary areas of expertise.”
At the March 6 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, a submitted question by Cllr Alistair Cameron asked: “On November 28, 2024, Hywel Dda UHB announced that, since financial support is not secured, delivery of a new hospital (to be located in either St Clears or Whitland) is likely to be at least 10 years from now.
“In the same statement the health board stated that it risks falling significantly behind other areas [of the UK] with consequences for patient care and staff recruitment and that it has identified nine fragile services: Critical Care, Emergency General Surgery, Stroke, Endoscopy, Radiology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics and Urology.
“Could the Leader of Council seek an urgent meeting between the council and the chief executive of Hywel Dda UHB so that he can explain his strategy for safeguarding these nine fragile services which are vital to Pembrokeshire residents and what action has been taken so far?”
Responding, Leader Cllr Jon Harvey said: “I share your concern about health service provision; contact has been made with the health board with regard to a meeting, a response is awaited,” adding that a seminar for councillors on the issue was also due to be held.
News
Pembrokeshire becomes latest council to consider devolution of Crown Estate

SENIOR councillors will consider a bid for Pembrokeshire to become the latest council to support the devolution of Crown Estate assets to Wales.
15 local authorities are currently backing calls for this economic asset to be placed in Welsh hands.
The latest to join the campaign are Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil (both on March 5), and Isle of Anglesey (March 6), bringing the total across Wales to 15.
The Crown Estate owns 65 per cent of Wales’ riverbeds and beaches, as well as more than 50,000 acres of land – valued at over £603m.
Proceeds from these go to the Crown Estate, funding the Royal Family and contributing to the UK Treasury.
Responsibility for the Crown Estate is already devolved to the Scottish Government, which has previously been reported as generating £103.6 million into the public coffers in Scotland in 2023.
A notice of motion submitted to the March 6 meeting by Plaid Cymru councillor Michael Williams said: “We ask PCC to support the proposal for the Crown Estate assets to be devolved to the people of Wales, so that profits can be used to invest in the economy and communities of Wales.
“A poll in 2023 showed that 75 per cent of the population were in favour of taking control of the assets of the Crown estate rather than the profits going to the Treasury and the Crown.
“Local Authorities are under huge financial pressure and placing the Crown Estate in the hands of Wales would be a significant step to address the lack of investment in our local government.
“We call upon the Welsh Government to ask Westminster to devolve the assets and revenue of the Crown Estates as a matter of urgency, as was done in Scotland in 2017.
“We demand that Wales is treated fairly and accepts management of the Crown Estate land for the benefit of the people of Wales.”
Members agreed the matter be referred to the council’s Cabinet for further consideration.
Earlier in that meeting, a submitted question by Independent Group leader Cllr Huw Murphy on the subject was heard.
He asked: “Can PCC provide the annual income the Crown Estates derive from Pembrokeshire as the Crown Estates map indicate that the majority of the Pembrokeshire Coastline to include much of the Milford Haven waterway is owned by the Crown Estates?”
Responding to that question, Cabinet member for finance Cllr Joshua Beynon said the total amounted to £59,005, including £26,600 for foreshore lease agreements, £8,520 for the land around Haverfordwest’s Riverside Market, and £12,800 for a sailing centre and care park at Cosheston Pill near Pembroke Dock.
Late last year councillors in neighbouring Ceredigion backed a call for the Crown Estate assets to be devolved to the people of Wales, following a notice of motion by Cllr Catrin M S Davies, seconded by Cllr Alun Williams.
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