At the start of last month’s meeting of Amroth Community Council, the chair,?Clr. Stephen Phillips, introduced new councillor Mark Harvey and welcomed him to his first meeting.

Among matters considered and discussed were:

Matters arising from previous minutes

• Mark Harvey had joined the council representing the ward of Amroth

• PCSO Jim Moffatt had been in contact regarding the issues of parking by Heritage Park in Stepaside and the strip of national speed limit road between Pleasant Valley and Stepaside. Jim had visited the village to look at both issues and been in contact with the Road Policing Sergeant about reducing the speed limit from national speed limit to 30 mph on the road between Pleasant Valley and Stepaside.

• In response to a letter from ACC asking for PCC cabinet’s support to block the introduction of seasonal parking charges in Amroth Car park, cabinet member, Clr. Phil Baker, responded to say that the car park variation order relating to PCNPA was not going to PCC cabinet meeting on January 14 as thought. He had asked officers of both PCC and PCNPA to update him regarding the programme for this variation order, as the main debate and discussion should be made at a future Park Authority meeting, in advance of a PCC cabinet meeting.

• Darren Thomas, PCC head of infrastructure, responded to correspondence sent by ACC regarding the issue of parking obstructions in Amroth in front of the shops. He asked for further clarification regarding number and location of disabled parking bays and on the proposal for an unloading bay on the seaward side of the road. He also commented that ACC’s suggestion of a ‘prohibition of stopping’ restriction was not well understood and respected by motorists and that such a restriction would have a notable impact on enforcement resources.

Following discussion, it was agreed that chairman, Stephen Phillips would respond to Darren to:

1. Confirm that ACC would like a loading bay on the south side of the road opposite the Osborne shop and the Pirate Café to prevent long term parking here.

2. Confirm that ACC supported the addition of two disabled parking bays located by the flag pole and one additional disabled bay to the east of the ramp.

3. Request that one of the disabled spaces by the toilets has a time limit imposed to allow for use of the toilet but also turnover of vehicles.

4. Request that the bus stop opposite the Temple Bar be removed and the space used for additional parking.

• Darren Thomas sent through for approval, a map of possible marked parking spaces on the triangular piece of ground at the east end of the sea wall, near the New Inn. The advantage would be to ensure that the ramp off the footway should not be blocked by parking. The markings would be added to the works programme for installation when the workload and weather conditions allowed.

Councillors approved the suggestions and would request an additional disabled parking bay to the east of the ramp.

• A letter was sent to PCNPA CEO, Tegryn Jones, and chair of the board, Mrs. Gwyneth Hayward, formally requesting the asset transfer of the car park to ACC. If this was not possible, then ACC requested to take on the car park on a 30-year repairing lease. A reply was received from Gary Meopham which said that a Community Asset Transfer was not appropriate in the circumstances as the car park remained a core part of PCNPA operational estate and would only be considered if the car park was at risk of closure.

He went on to say that PCNPA were not seeking a party to undertake the operation of the car park on their behalf, but that ACC’s proactive enquiry would be reported to the authority’s Property and Projects Group for discussion at its next scheduled meeting and ACC would be updated shortly thereafter.    

• Amroth Road signs. Two new signs were being made which would highlight Amroth as being a dog friendly village. One would be placed by the 30 mph sign at would replace the sign at the Summerhill end of the village.

County Councillors Report

Clr. Baron had attended two scrutiny committee meetings recently on county council budget proposals. The cabinet were likely to recommend a 9.8 per cent increase in council tax rate. It was likely that the Police were going to increase their precept by 11 per cent. PCC had received no indication from Welsh Government as to what would be the financial settlement for the next financial year.

The county council had held Brexit meetings looking at how it was likely to impact residents in rural areas. Welsh Local Government Authority reported that even if Wales received the same amount of grant from London as currently from the EU, Pembrokeshire was likely to receive significantly less. Current EU arrangements directed grant monies to West Wales, however Welsh Government was keen to see more go to East Wales. In the past 18 years, Pembrokeshire had received £85m of structural funds.

Rural communities may also be hit hard if Brexit occurred under World Trade Organisation Rules (No Deal) as lamb exports would be hit and threatened by cheap meat imports from countries with lower welfare standards.

Pembrokeshire’s Ports should operate as normal and PCC did not anticipate queues of traffic on the A477 because of additional Customs, although there may be a risk of traffic displacement from Holyhead and Liverpool.

Dyfyd Powys police officers could be called upon to travel to other areas of the country to deal with issues, leaving less people on the ground in Pembrokeshire for normal everyday policing.

There were additional concerns that the county may lose EU nationals, many who work in social care and any negative impact on sterling would impact PCC budgets. Risk analysis was ongoing, and PCC had set aside a contingency fund of £1m.

Clr. Baron said that PCC was looking to manage its commercial property holdings better, to increase financial yield through lease and rent reviews in an attempt to mitigate the rise in council tax.

Clr. Baron had also been in contact with PCSO Jim Moffatt about the delimited part of the road between Pleasant Valley and Stepaside.

Planning

Tenby Tourers, Crofty, Llanteg - Change of use of agricultural land for the siting of 43 touring caravan pitches and associated facilities buildings. Permission refused.

Field at rear of 7 Crunwere Close, Llanteg - Installation of ground mounted 8 kwp four row solar array (Renusol ConSole4.1) to provide electricity for private use (7 Crunwere Close, Llanteg). Conditionally approved.

Greendale, Stepaside - Alterations and extension. Conditionally approved

1 Kilgetty Lane, Stepaside - New access, erection of double garage, alterations to existing property and first floor extension. ACC had no objection.

Blaencilgoed Quarry, Ludchurch - Review of the mineral conditions for the site. ACC had no objection.

Correspondence

• The Welsh Government had published the next steps in implementing its policy approach for the community and town council sector. The information was forwarded.

• From CN Jones, monitoring officer, re. webcasting of standards committee hearings. Mr. Jones asked for the community council’s views on whether standards committee hearings should be webcast as other official meetings are. Standards committee hearings were convened to hear cases of alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct by county, town and community councillors following referral of such cases by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. There had been two such cases in the past three years. It was agreed that the clerk would respond to say that councillors did not agree that such hearings be webcast because guilt had yet to be proved.

• Comments had been received from Elizabeth Hall, of The Prince of Wales, Stepaside in relation to the proposals for Heritage Park, Stepaside.

• A statutory pre-application consultation for Heritage Park, Stepaside, had been published.

Clrs. Mary Megarry, Roger Harries, and County Clr. Tony Baron met with over 30 residents who came to Amroth Parish Hall to express their views on the proposed development at Heritage Park. The information was collated and reported back to the council meeting. The information was used to inform the comments of ACC which are published on the Amroth parish website. Many points were raised. The impact of the additional traffic the development would cause was a primary concern, not only from visitors but deliveries also. Wildlife, sewerage, population increase and the impact on the value of local properties were mentioned, among others. It was agreed that while the development was high quality, it would be very densely populated and with more people, cyclists and horse riders, it would add additional pressure on local doctor surgeries. The actual Heritage Park development comes under the Begelly/Kilgetty CC area; however, it would affect residents living in the Amroth CC area.

It was agreed that the clerk write to Begelly/Kilgetty Community Council to inform them about comments from local residents in the ACC area.

Report by Amroth and District Community Association

• Everything had started up again following the Christmas break.

• The boiler broke recently but had been mended.

• The hall remained well used by the community and different clubs.

Report by Llanteg Village Hall Committee

• The AGM was held on January 21, with all officers being re-elected unanimously.

• The new gardening club had 20 members, so was very popular. Interesting visit to Greenacre.

• A Coffee morning takes place every month.

• The Book Club is thriving.

• A new social meeting has started called The Pudding Club which attracted over 40 local people to its first meeting.

• Community Walking Group - a full schedule has been arranged for the next 12 months

• Contributions for the next newsletter to be submitted by April 15 to Ruth Roberts

• The new art group has had excellent reviews being enjoyable and therapeutic. It takes place on the second and fourth Monday of the month, 10 am -12 noon.

• The Village Hall Committee has received funds through the Co-op in Kilgetty. The money will be used to improve lighting and projection facilities in the hall.

Monthly Police meeting

• Thirty people attend the meeting regularly

• Suspicion that person/s travelling in a white van may be dealing in drugs - please ring 101 with any information.

• Scams - Phone calls pertaining to be from HMRC. Callers ring to say resident owes money and so resident hands over bank details. Also calls about internet being switched off.

• Dyfed Powys police are recruiting at the moment.

Any other or Urgent Business

• Exercise Jantzen - Amroth took part in the preparations for the D Day landings. There are several interesting videos depicting the operation. Clrs. Stephen Phillips and John James met with Simeon Pugh Jones who runs the Tin Shed in Laugharne and Tony Jukes a historian from Golden Grove, near Llandeilo, who knew huge amounts about the operation. Apparently, there were US forces in the area too. Llanelli Historical Society have some historical display panels, which it was considered would be appropriate to display information about Exercise Jantzen.

• It was proposed, to possibly have an information board to stand on the plinth while Bertie the Sea Bass is on tour, then moved to a location near the flag pole when Bertie returns. QR codes on the board could bring videos to life via smart phones. ACC are looking for any historical photographs on the event which should be of interest to both locals and visitors. A possible monument was suggested to draw attention to the part Amroth played in the WW2 preparations. Councillors were asked to think of ideas for Amroth and Wisemans Bridge. A sub-committee was set up to take the idea forward of Clrs. Stephen Phillips, John James, Roger Harries, Pauline Davies, Martin Morris and Mark Harvey.

Date of next meeting - Thursday, February 21, at Llanteg Village Hall, starting at 7 pm.