Six wishes for 2016

 Trying to predict the future is a fool’s game but that doesn’t mean one can’t harbor aspirations. So with a nod in the direction of those who warn we should be careful what we wish for, the following are six of my hopes for 2016.

First is an earnest plea to Pembrokeshire County Council to adopt a New Year’s resolution that it will take on board the responses to its consultations. On my reckoning they held three during 2015 on the future of secondary schools in Haverfordwest. This was on the basis that if the first and second didn’t produce the answer they wanted, they should try, and try again. All the signs are that the third will deliver the same result as the other two - that parents, pupils and staff want a new English-medium secondary school complete with a sixth form. Hopefully the county council might listen this time.

Stephen Crabb - will we remember him when he's gone?

Secondly, I hope that during 2016 the Westminster Government will allow the £1b tidal energy lagoon in Swansea Bay to go ahead. To do so, they need to agree a subsidy to underpin the project that would last more than 30 years. The price is high but the potential gains are enormous. If the Swansea lagoon is successful it is likely that half-a-dozen more will be built around the Welsh coast, creating a reliable renewable energy supply and creating more than 30,000 jobs in the process. Many of these would be based around Milford Haven. It had been hoped that work could start on the project this spring but that has been delayed for a year while the UK government makes up its mind. The commitments it made at the Paris Climate Change conference coupled with the mounting evidence of the perils of global warming – the recent floods being the most recent – ought to be persuasive.

Thirdly, I hope that the Secretary of State for Wales, Preseli’s MP Stephen Crabb will decide that he wants to be more than a footnote in history.  He has a chance to make his mark if he decides to face down the opposition of Whitehall departments like the Home Office and put some backbone into the Wales Bill he will be steering through the Westminster Parliament.  As it stands the Bill only tinkers with the powers of the National Assembly.  It needs to do much more than that if it is to result in a stable and lasting settlement. Does Stephen Crabb wish to remembered? Or will he be just another in the list of forgotten holders of his office, like his predecessor for instance? Does anyone remember him?

Fourthly, I hope David Cameron comes back from his negotiations in Brussels in February with a package that he can use to make a persuasive case for the peoples of the UK to vote to stay inside the European Union. A vote to leave in the referendum that now looks likely in the summer would be disastrous for the Pembrokeshire economy.

Fifthly, I hope we vote in the Assembly elections in May to change the Government in Cardiff Bay. Labour have now been in power there for 16 years, far too long for the health of our fledgling Welsh democracy. A new Plaid-led government would also be our best hope for restoring essential emergency service to Withybush hospital.

Finally, perhaps my most optimistic wish: for a fair spring and a fine summer. Pembrokeshire’s farmers and our tourist industry could certainly do with both. Happy New Year!