Community

Plans to redevelop Brawdy for landmark radar initiative a step closer

Published

1 month ago

August 8, 2024

The Ministry of Defence has released a second press release regarding plans to redevelop Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire, Wales, to host a groundbreaking radar initiative.

The reannouncement gives a chance for the new Defence Secretary John Healey to express his support for the project, and also announces two community outreach events designed to allow officials to discuss the proposals with local residents.

Known as the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC), the initiative, which was first announced last year, aims, according to the Government, to secure long-term employment and enhance the protection of essential satellite communication and navigation networks. DARC will establish a network of ground-based radars across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, enhancing the AUKUS nations’ capacity to detect, track, and identify objects in deep space up to approximately 36,000km from Earth.

This capability will significantly benefit these nations’ land, air, and maritime forces, protect critical infrastructure, and support domestic construction and space industries. DARC will play a crucial role in bolstering AUKUS nations’ ability to ensure safety and security in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.

Defence Secretary John Healey commented: “The proposed redevelopment of Cawdor Barracks secures jobs at home and enhances our defence capabilities for the future. Space plays a crucial role in our daily lives, utilised by everything from our mobile phones to banking services. It also supports UK Defence in conducting vital tasks such as military operations, navigation, and intelligence gathering. This new radar programme will enhance our awareness of deep space and protect our space assets alongside our closest partners.”

The former RAF Brawdy base, currently known as Cawdor Barracks, has a rich history of supporting the UK’s Military, as both a Royal Air Force flying station and a Royal Navy base.

Currently home to the 14 Signal Regiment, the Ministry of Defence announced in 2016 that the barracks would close no earlier than 2028. The site’s redevelopment for DARC would ensure it remains operational, with up to 100 personnel permanently stationed to operate and maintain the radar capability.

Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, added: “The proposed redevelopment of Cawdor Barracks will secure jobs in the area while protecting our national security. This is an important project for Pembrokeshire, and the government is committed to working with the local community to ensure its success.”

The Ministry of Defence is dedicated to completing all necessary planning and environmental processes to gain consent for the site’s redevelopment and its safe operation. A comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment, including a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, is underway to support a planning application to Pembrokeshire County Council. The Council’s approval will be conditional on DARC meeting all required safety standards.

Safety processes will ensure that DARC complies with international environmental and health standards set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the World Health Organisation. This is standard practice for all MOD installations.

Community engagement will be integral to developing proposals for DARC, with two public information events scheduled before the statutory consultation period required by Pembrokeshire County Council. Members of the MOD DARC programme team will attend these events to discuss proposals, answer questions, and gather local community feedback.

Local opposition to the plans

In June, a public meeting at Solva Memorial Hall was ‘packed to the rafters’ last night as hundreds of concerned residents gathered to discuss the dangers posed by the proposed Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) project at Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire. Campaigners are urging local communities to lobby all general election candidates against a project they successfully opposed decades ago.

Following the digital launch of the campaign group PARC Against DARC, which aims to halt the UK/US military’s plan to establish a 27-dish high-power radar station, a public meeting in Solva saw a substantial turnout. Organisers reported that the hall was filled with residents ready to challenge the radar initiative.

Speakers at the event reiterated key arguments against DARC, pointing to a similar campaign in the 1990s that forced then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to cancel a related project. The meeting featured a campaign video and presentations that highlighted the community’s readiness to oppose the radar station.

Emma Bowen, general manager of the Retreats Group of local hotels, spoke about the potential negative impact on tourism:
“As an accommodation provider set in the UK’s only coastal national park, we rely on tourists who come to enjoy the coast path, beaches, history, and culture. If you were looking for a holiday location, would you choose somewhere next to 27 enormous radar structures? If DARC goes ahead, it would jeopardise our business, putting 75 jobs at risk and affecting over 40 suppliers and contractors.”

Two short films presented at the meeting, created by leading scientists in non-ionising radiation, outlined severe health risks associated with radar installations. Dr. M. Peleg’s study on Israel’s Iron Dome radar revealed a significant increase in cancer cases among soldiers stationed near the radars. The same type of non-ionising radiation expected from the DARC installation has been linked to haemolymphatic cancers.

One Israeli soldier described the effects: “When you’re near a radar, you literally feel your body boiling from the inside out… like being in a microwave. Israeli soldiers have nicknamed the Iron Dome ‘the toaster’ due to its harmful effects.”

Dylan Lewis-Rowlands, CND Cymru’s secretary, expressed concerns over military escalation: “CND Cymru supports PARC against DARC. We oppose the militarisation of space and Cymru. The DARC initiative is part of the AUKUS alliance’s military ambitions. Our campaign prioritises the needs of Pembrokeshire and Wales over US military interests.”

Michial Davies of the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust discussed the potential harm to Manx Shearwaters and other wildlife: “Lights and Manx shearwaters don’t mix. Brawdy is visible from Skomer, the most important site for these seabirds. DARC will exacerbate the problem, leading to more bird deaths.”

On Thusday (Aug 8) Local campaigner Jim Scott urged attendees to take action: “The MOD acts as if this project will easily pass through local councils, but this is far from a ‘done deal’. We need to ensure our elected County Councillors reject this carcinogenic, military monstrosity. Email the General Election Candidates and make our voices heard.”

Before concluding, attendees replicated an iconic photograph from a previous campaign, holding up NO RADAR placards, symbolising their unified stance against the DARC project.

PARC Against DARC launched a just few weeks ago and already boasts a petition nearing its next target of 15,000 signatures. The public launch meeting was the biggest in Solva’s history.”

With this huge level of public support behind them, campaigners told us; “We are extremely confident that public pressure will put a halt to these ill thought out military proposals.”

Adding: “The MOD’s own scoping report admits that the project would mean 100 heavy lorry trips per day up our coast road and through Newgale itself. That would mean 200 lorry trips per day including the return journey!”

“We know the people of Pembrokeshire wont go along with this, but in any case the road infrastructure simply does not exist for this level of project.”

“As a campaign we have every confidence that this military monstrosity will never see the light of day. We repeat our call for our local MP and MS’s to declare their personal position on this. The issue is likely to be a big vote-loser in the 2026 Senedd elections with some major parties such as Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Greens already having come out staunchly against DARC.

This is no good for Pembrokeshire, this is no good for anywhere. Local Politicians need to get on the right side of this before they are publicly forced to, not afterwards!”

About DARC

Space is crucial for the nation and plays a critical role in our daily lives. Space services, including those delivered by satellites, underpin many aspects of modern life, from enabling navigation, monitoring the climate, forecasting the weather, supporting our emergency services, supporting our Critical National Infrastructure and protecting the public. Understanding what is in space is crucial for the UK’s interests, especially as space becomes more congested with satellites and debris.

The proposed redevelopment of Cawdor Barracks (former RAF Brawdy) for the DARC programme would help to protect our present and future prosperity and national security. By enhancing our awareness and understanding of what is happening in space, we can continue to ensure it remains safe, sustainable and accessible to all.

The MOD announced in 2016 that Cawdor Barracks, home to 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare), would close and this is currently planned to take place no earlier than 2028. The development of the site for DARC helps keep the site open, with a permanent presence of up to 100 personnel to operate DARC.

The proposals

The MOD says it is committed to undertaking all necessary planning and environmental processes required to gain planning consent for the proposed site and for its safe operation. A comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (including a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment) is underway in support of our planning application to Pembrokeshire County Council and their granting of planning permission is conditional on DARC meeting all the required safety standards.

In particular, the MOD safety processes will ensure that DARC meets international environmental and health standards as set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the World Health Organisation, and this is standard practice for all MOD installations.

Public engagement

There will be two public information events before the statutory consultation period that is required by Pembrokeshire County Council. Members of the DARC programme team will attend these events to discuss the proposals, answer any questions and hear local community views.

Public information events will be hosted over the period 13-14 September 2024:

Friday, 13 September 2024

4pm-7pm
Solva Memorial Hall
39 High St
Solva
Haverfordwest
SA62 6TE

Saturday, 14 September 2024

10am-2pm
St David’s City Hall
High St
St Davids
Haverfordwest
SA62 6SD

Community

Affordable homes plans for fire-ravaged Cleddau Bridge Hotel site

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A PRE-APPLICATION consultation on plans to build 35 affordable homes on the site of the former Cleddau Bridge Hotel, Pembroke Dock is to be launched next week.

In a prime location at one of the entrances to Pembroke Dock the former Cleddau Bridge Hotel has been derelict since a fire in March 2019, which brought emergency services from as far afield as Ammanford, Aberystwyth and Swansea.

A previous planning application for the demolition of the hotel and siting of a residential care home and linked bungalows was submitted in October 2022 and which was subsequently granted permission in February 2023.

This permission, whilst in outline, is still live and allows for the loss of the hotel use of the site and its alternative redevelopment as a residential care home.

The site has now been purchased by Castell Group Property Specialists who specialise in delivering affordable housing in South Wales and have undertaken a joint development deal with Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) and that deal was agreed back in April 2024.

Castell Group Property Specialists, through agent Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd, now wants to demolish what is left of the hotel, with a development of two-storey affordable housing units, with landscaping and ecological enhancements, the housing being 100 per cent affordable, in a mix of a mix of social rent and affordable housing.

Initial discussions with the council were for 38 affordable units, which has been lowered to 35 in a mix of 16 x 1 bed units, 11 x 2-bed units, 6 x 3-bed units and 2 x 4 bed units.

Anyone who wishes to make representations about this proposed development must do so by the October 18, the formal consultation period commencing on September 18.

Details may be viewed here.

Responses should be emailed or posted to Hayston Development & Planning Ltd, Planning Studio, Hayston Bridge, Johnston, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA62 3HJ.

A formal application to Pembrokeshire County Council will follow the pre-consultation.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service has previously said the 2019 fire was started by a deliberate act.
Following a fire investigation, Dyfed-Powys Police said they found there to be insufficient evidence to identify a suspect.

Community

2000 affordable homes target in proposed council planning changes

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A FORMAL consultation on changes to Pembrokeshire’s local development plan, with an ambition to create nearly 2,000 affordable homes, is to go ahead.

At an extraordinary council meeting taking place on September 13, councillors approved a public consultation on the Replacement Pembrokeshire County Council Local Development Plan (2017-2033) – LDP 2, Deposit Plan 2.

The consultation will take place later this year and run for a minimum of six weeks.

The Local Development Plan (LDP) sets out the local policy framework for determining planning applications and directing growth in the part of Pembrokeshire for which the county council has planning jurisdiction.

The report and proposal for a consultation was presented – and the recommendation moved – by Cabinet Member for Planning & Regulatory Services Cllr Jacob Williams, who tempted fate and superstition by pointing out that not only was the meeting being held on Friday 13, but the recommendation in the report was on page 13.

The report for members stated: “Pembrokeshire County Council’s current LDP was adopted in 2013 and has an end date of 2021, although it remains in force as the adoption of the plan pre-dated the formal introduction of statutory end dates for LDPs in Wales.

“Nonetheless the current LDP is now more than 11 years old and the need to prepare and adopt a replacement LDP is paramount, in order to make provision for the new growth needed to support communities and businesses up until 2033 and to protect and enhance Pembrokeshire’s environment.”

The new LDP2 includes a 60/40 per cent split between new dwellings proposed in the urban and rural areas, with a target of 5,840 dwellings, 2,000 of them affordable.

There are three strategic residential allocations made by LDP 2: Slade Lane, Haverfordwest; Maesgwynne, Fishguard; and South of Conway Drive, Steynton, intended to provide 622 new dwellings between them.

In town centre developments, protected retail frontages are retained but their extent has generally been reduced, with no residential use at ground floor level in the primary frontages, residential use above ground floor level being supported.

Two solar array allocations are included in the plan, at Llanstadwell and Wolfscastle, and a coastal change policy, which limits development in areas vulnerable to flooding due to sea-level rise.

A new policy on water quality, including protection of water resources, is also included, responding to the river water quality issues in the Cleddau and Teifi catchments.

Council leader Cllr Jon Harvey said there was a need for additional affordable housing, expressing his frustration at some developers “trying to chip away” affordable housing promises in developments.

The consultation is expected to be launched later this autumn.

Community

Labour pledge to enshrine human rights into Welsh law delayed

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

PLANS to enshrine international human rights treaties into Welsh law will no longer be brought forward by 2026 despite a manifesto commitment, a committee heard.

Labour’s 2021 Senedd manifesto pledged to incorporate United Nations conventions on rights of disabled people and the elimination of discrimination against women.

But the Senedd’s equality and social justice committee was told the Welsh Government will not introduce legislation on the UN treaties before the election in May 2026.

Simon Hoffman, a professor in law at Swansea University who specialises in human rights, led 2021 research on advancing equality and human rights in Wales.

In his written evidence to the inquiry, Prof Hoffman said preparatory work will not be complete in time for legislation to be brought forward during the current Senedd term.

He told the meeting: “I don’t think we can achieve what was in the recommendation…. I think the best we can think about is possibly a green paper and a timeline.”

Witnesses warned a lack of time and money has harmed efforts to incorporate UN treaties.

Charles Whitmore, a research associate at Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre, chairs a working group that is exploring the legislative options.

He told the committee: “We do not have any financial resource so far made available to pay for time to do the work, so invariably it proceeds at a pace that matches voluntary capacity.”

Cautioning that incorporation could be “quite far away”, Mr Whitmore said: “I don’t know if we’re at the stage of being able to put a timeframe against this yet.”

Jenny Rathbone, who chairs the equality committee, raised concern about delays, criticising the previous UK Government’s “schizophrenic attitude” towards human rights.

“Time marches on and we’re only 18 months away from wrapping up this term,” she said.

Her Labour colleague Julie Morgan questioned whether there has been a shift in view from Welsh ministers, asking witnesses if incorporation still holds value.

Sioned Williams, Plaid Cymru’s shadow social justice secretary, similarly asked whether there has been any cooling of enthusiasm towards enshrining rights.

And Joel James, her Conservative counterpart, contrasted “warm words” from ministers with an “implementation gap” on the ground.

Mr Whitmore agreed about the need to protect against “regression” in human rights at a UK level, saying the “alarming” pace of legislation drained capacity and hampered work.

Prof Hoffman, who is secretary of the Senedd’s cross-party group on human rights, said incorporation should remain firmly on the agenda.

“Legal recognition of rights is a significant step,” he told committee members.

Prof Hoffman said incorporation of rights would raise awareness, signal importance, influence policy development and provide for accountability.

He added: “One of the things that incorporation does is it makes human rights enduring … it makes human rights sticky … and I think that is particularly important.”

Prof Hoffman pointed out that Wales’ 2011 Rights of Children and Young Persons Measure places a duty on ministers to have “due regard” to the UN convention on children’s rights.

The expert cautioned that spreading resources too thinly could force a binary choice.

He said: “I think it’s crucially important that we continue on the route towards incorporation while also looking at other ways of doing human rights in practice.”

Prof Hoffman suggested the UK Government’s decision to challenge Scotland’s children’s rights legislation in the Supreme Court has had a chilling effect on work in Wales.

Meanwhile, Mr Whitmore cautioned that the sector is under considerable pressure as he raised the example of the ripple effect caused by the closure of the Chwarae Teg charity.

Sarah Nason, a senior lecturer in administrative law at Bangor University, said public bodies are already subject to many duties and any new ones need to be aligned.

“It’s a question of the duties being clear and consistent,” she said.

Calling for reforms to improve access to justice, Dr Nason raised concerns about cuts to legal aid creating “advice deserts” across the country.

She told the meeting on September 16 that Wales sees “very few” judicial review claims per head of population compared with parts of England and other devolved nations.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) painted a mixed picture in its 2023 ‘state of the nation’ report, entitled Is Wales Fairer?.

Warning poverty remains a persistent problem in Wales, the EHRC raised concerns about one-in-four children living in relative income poverty.

The commission also found educational attainment for disabled children in Wales is falling behind other parts of the UK as is the attainment gap for those eligible for free school meals.

And, according to the report, the number of racially and religiously aggravated offences rose 72% from 2017 to 2022 while the number of offences resulting in a charge fell.

Making a total of 19 recommendations to the Welsh Government and other public bodies, the commission called for action to tackle gaps in data and evidence.

But the EHRC welcomed ministers’ commitments and highlighted progress on diversity in public appointments as well as a narrowing of gender pay and disability employment gaps.