Jacob Williams https://jacobwilliams.com

Users of Pembrokeshire County Council’s webcasting facility may have noticed one of the more recent archived meetings has nothing to do with the authority or its committees.

The police and crime commissioner for Dyfed-Powys, Christopher Salmon, used the council chamber on November 18th for his ‘Policing Accountability Board.’

No, nor me.

Mr. Salmon’s website says this is a monthly affair where he scrutinises the police force’s work and holds the chief constable, Simon Prince, to account.

Unfortunately this televised extravaganza occurred before news broke in the nationals that a formal investigation is underway into claims of misconduct concerning an alleged extramarital relationship between the force’s deputy chief constable and legal director.

So no public grilling on that one.

But it did take place after high profile media reports that Langley received a whopping £55k of taxpayers’ cash in 2012 to relocate from Lincolnshire police.

We paid for a silky smooth transition for Mr. Langley as the sum is said to have gone towards removal expenses, redecoration of his new house plus a tax bill.

Alas, no scrutiny in front of the cameras on this, either!

Open to the public, each of the commissioner’s accountability board meetings focuses on a particular ‘strategic priority,’ which for November was ‘Enhancing Access to Policing Services.’

The two-and-a-quarter hour session is a veritable snoozefest and unless the sleeping pills are running low I recommend readers steer well clear.

In his opening remarks Mr. Salmon welcomed two members of the public. Not interesting in and of itself, but he said these attendees were ‘local councillors.’ The camera didn’t pan across so viewers – if any – were left wondering.

So I skimmed through the long broadcast to see if they made an appearance. And they did, at later point when Mr. Salmon invited questions.

Sitting side-by-side were IPPG loyalists Cllrs. Brian Hall and Steve Yelland.

The duo may have some explaining to do to their ruling-party leader because they were sitting in the opposition benches reserved for unaffiliated independent councillors – or the Uglies, as Cllr. Rob Lewis famously branded us.

Pembroke Dock representative Cllr. Hall asked Dyfed-Powys’ finest if the town’s CCTV system is to be monitored over the Christmas period.

Clearly a diligent local member concerned about maintaining law and order in his patch, Brian could have probed the police’s inactivity on the council’s referral of Pembroke Dock grant scheme corruption allegations.

He could have asked them why, having been handed an evidence dossier on a plate by the authority’s finance chiefs in February 2014, they’ve dragged their heels on the case so far.

Slipped his mind, I’m sure!

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Schools of thought

The recent extraordinary council meeting on education went much as expected.

Leader Cllr. Jamie Adams and his education cabinet member, Cllr. Sue Perkins, stressed how the council had listened to the St. David’s peninsula’s views and responded to them.

After all, Solva folk didn’t want their village school to close down and St. David’s didn’t want to lose its secondary school either.

So now we have a new arrangement where they’ll both be closed down anyway but re-opened as satellites of a new voluntary aided 3-16 age church school.

Solva CP will merge with St. David’s-based Ysgol Dewi Sant (currently 11-18) and Ysgol Bro Dewi (already a VA primary school.)

The benefits of this arrangement aren’t immediately obvious when Solva School is still in special measures and, according to inspectors Estyn: “prospects for improvement were found to be unsatisfactory because of weaknesses in leadership and performance management.”

And quite how this arrangement is ‘transformational’ or, more to the point, why it is only now seen as a good idea when the school in September was deemed by council officers to be in poor condition with “major deterioration” and “inhibited” teaching methods – requiring “substantial ongoing repair and maintenance to ensure its ongoing viability” – is also open to question.

Going in Solva CP’s favour is that it’s attended by nearly all catchment area pupils so there’s no dreaded ‘surplus places’ issue.

Through the sort of U-turn only local government practitioners can pull-off with a straight face, these community assets seem to have been secured – almost the complete opposite of what was proposed for seemingly fundamental reasons just weeks before. No doubt there were many forces at play.

Those with an interest in the subject will recall it took a forced dose of truth serum for Solva’s local member, Cllr. Lyn Jenkins, to realise she’d better account for her untrue claim at the initial council meeting that the prospect of her village school’s closure was all news to her.

The strong message which subsequently came from the peninsula seems to have sunk in. Although there are still concerns over the three schools’ viability under this new arrangement, you can’t say the people haven’t been listened to – or the recommended vote would have certainly been for the previously-planned total closures.

A much louder voice has expressed Haverfordwest pupils’ and parents’ opposition to the removal of secondary school-based sixth form from their town.

Choice is what they’re after – between the college or sixth form to do their A levels. They currently have this choice and in overwhelming numbers have opted for sixth form over the college.

Current plans for the council and Pembrokeshire College to collaborate on a new sixth form centre will leave the county town’s pupils with no choice.

But the council’s officers and senior councillors seem somewhat reluctant to revisit the plans, despite a long-running and well-organised campaign agin.

Cllr. Mike Stoddart’s attempt at the meeting, which I seconded, that would have allowed the council to consult on an alternative plan with an option of a school-based sixth form in Haverfordwest was ruled out of order by the authority’s legal eagles, so if this does eventually become the council’s adopted policy, the process won’t be nearly as smooth as it was for the St. David’s peninsula.

Unfortunately, Haverfordwest councillors’ voices have been somewhat muffled, too.

Old Grumpy has recently written on this topic and I understand he will soon post an interesting update on Haverfordwest councillors and their so-called ‘prejudicial’ interests.

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Guns at dawn

It was nice to see Cllr. Brian Hall’s jestful comment on Pembroke Dock’s new Aldi store approved at last month’s planning committee meeting wasn’t wasted.

The Western Telegraph headlined its article with Bri’s suggestion that he would probably be “shot before dawn” by townsfolk if he didn’t support the redevelopment of the scruffy London Road plot.

“Why wait until dawn?” asks one of the WT’s readers!