Tory split threatens Pembrokeshire in the EU

Ian Duncan Smith - "crocodile tears"

In the best part of a lifetime reporting on politics I cannot recall when a Conservative government was so bitterly divided. Ian Duncan Smith’s resignation last week was merely a surface manifestation of a fissure that runs deep through the party. I don’t buy Duncan Smith’s crocodile tears that his resignation was prompted by the proposed welfare cuts in the budget shambles. He has too much form of implementing cuts on the poorest in society over the past six years for that.

No, this was all about Europe. The headline in the Daily Express told you all you needed to know: “Tory split helps fight to free us from Brussels”. The Tory divisions are inevitably weakening the Yes side in the forthcoming referendum. Many voters still to make up their minds will undoubtedly take a lead from the Prime Minister and his Chancellor of the Exchequer. Their authority has been unquestionably been undermined by the events of the last week. And to that extent the strength of those arguing to remain inside the EU has been weakened as well.

Certainly, Pembrokeshire stands to lose heavily if by some misfortune Britain was to vote to leave the EU. First in the firing line would be our farmers. Wales will benefit by £1.7 billion between now and 2020 by Common Agricultural Policy Payments that support more than 80 per cent of farms. Moreover, if we were to leave, farmers would face tariff barriers at the borders of the EU which accounts for nearly the whole of our beef and lamb exports.

As for tourism, so vital for the Pembrokeshire economy, we have benefited from investment in developments such as the coastal path, while European water directives have ensured cleaner waters and beaches around our coast.

The fact is that Wales benefits from EU membership more than any other part of the UK, and within Wales our western rural areas and the Valleys benefit most of all. Wales is due to receive more than £3 billion of EU investment between 2014 and 2020, while Welsh exports to the EU will be worth in the region of £5.4 million.

Few would argue against dualling the 23 miles of the A40 between St Clears and Haverfordwest. It was proposed a decade ago but was put on ice by the Labour government in Cardiff which had other priorities. The only improvement since then has been the Robeston Wathen by-pass, completed in 2011 at a cost of £41.4 million. This was hugely necessary and indeed was first promised as long as the 1950s. The by-pass cut out an acute bottleneck in the village itself and removed an accident blackspot at Canaston Bridge. The European Convergence Fund contributed £20 million, nearly half the cost. Without it I very much doubt whether the by-pass would have been built. It’s just another example of how continued EU membership is so vital to Pembrokeshire’s interests.

Forgotten lessons from the Sea Empress

It’s hard to believe that it was 20 years ago last Monday that the Sea Empress became stranded at the entrance to Milford Haven, causing a spillage of 72,000 tones of crude oil and catastrophic damage to the Pembrokeshire coast. Thousands of seabirds were killed and 120 miles of beaches were contaminated, stretching from St Brides Bay around the southern Pembrokeshire coast and into Carmarthen.  Some beaches were buried under a foot of oil. And although the immediate cleanup took place remarkably quickly, at a cost of £60m, it took the best part of a decade before the ecology of the shoreline fully recovered.

 

Sea Empress stranded off St Ann'e Head at the entrance Milford Haven

Such anniversaries always raise the question: could it happen again? Much has improved. In particular a much enhanced port control operation and command structure means the immediate circumstances that led to the spillage would be unlikely to recur. An inexperienced pilot was allowed to guide the Sea Empress in and took her too close to the north shore which led to the grounding. That was on a late Friday evening. By the middle of the following day only about 250 tons of oil had been lost, five Milford Haven tugs had managed to free her from the rocks and there was an option to tow her further out to sea away from immediate danger. The imminence of a Force 9 gale made this a pressing necessity.

The pilot aboard the Sea Empress radioed the Port Authority’s Control Room to ask permission from the Harbour Master and received the following, now infamous reply: “I agree with you but I have a room full of men saying No.” They included men from the salvagers, the oil and insurance companies, the coastguard, and the Department of Transport Pollution Control Unit. Their collective and soon to be mistaken view was that the Sea Empress could be emptied of her cargo where she was and then towed to safety.

In the event the Force 9 gale duly arrived, the towlines connecting the tugs broke and the Sea Empress was thrown about the rocks for twelve hours, losing most of her cargo of crude in the process. As I say, lessons have been learnt from the decisions that led up to this disaster.

But in another respect thre lessons are being forgotten. In the wake of the disaster, emergency towing vessels with much greater capacity than those operating in the Haven, were put in place around the coast of the United Kingdom - at Dover, Orkney, Stornoway, and Falmouth, the last providing cover for the Welsh coast.

However, in 2011 the Conservative government scrapped this fleet, as a cost saving measure, although one tug in Orkney won a reprieve until March this year.  Questioned about this last week, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said, “The government believes that responsibility for ensuring the operational safety of ships is properly a matter for the commercial shipping industry, working in partnership with the tug and salvage industries. It does not believe that it is appropriate for the taxpayer to fund this provision."

Meanwhile, other European countries, including Spain, France, Norway and Germany are maintaining government financed emergency towing vessels. And, of course, since the Sea Empress disaster we have much larger vessels coming into Milford Haven, carrying liquefied natural gas, a much more unstable and dangerous cargo. We’ll just have to hope that this further example of the Conservative government’s ideologically-driven cost-cutting doesn’t end-up in a false economy of cataclysmic proportions.

Passionate about Pembrokeshire

 Pembrokeshire is full of special places. The lie of the land, the western peninsula pushing into the Irish sea, the Cleddau waterway, and the Preseli hills offer many vistas that draw artists, writers and common folk more generally. But some places are very special. One is at Haroldston Chins above the high 300ft cliffs between Broadhaven and Druidston, near the centre of St Brides Bay. Here there is a long flat cliff walk with exceptional views of the ocean. To the north is St David’s Head and Ramsey Island. To the south is Skomer Island, though it looks to be an extension of the land.

 

'Where the sea touches the sky in a limitless horizon...'

Walking the coast path at this point feels like being on the deck of a liner with a limitless horizon, and where the sea touches the sky in a seamless continuity. Invariably, out in the Bay are oil tankers parked in line. Normally there are three or four, but I’ve counted as many as a dozen, waiting their turn for a berth in Milford Haven.

It is one of those places that, whatever the weather, feels intensely spiritual. And, in fact, it has taken on the character of a modern, secular 18^th or 19^th Century churchyard. It is full of benches bearing plaques commemorating the lives of people who frequented this place. One is in memory of Paul Blick who helped establish the Pembrokeshre coast path in the 1960s and who was appointed its first warden. The inscription is taken from Shakespeare’s sonnet, ‘Shall I compare three to a summer’s day’: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

A stretch of the cliff path has been tarmacked to provide wheelchair access. At intervals are square benches hewn from tree trunks, all bearing plaques. One is for Sheila Ann Mathias 30-9-42 to 12-6-02: “In loving memory of a devoted wife, mother and granny who liked to walk this path. Hope you enjoy the view as much as she did.” Another is for Edward Hier 1913-2007 and Margaret Hier 1921-2012, both of whom were “Passionate about Pembrokeshire”.

A little further on towards Broadhaven is a standing stone with a plaque declaring: ‘In memory of Glyn Charles Olympic Yachtsman. Lost at sea 4.9.1965 – 27.12.1998. He loved Pembrokeshire.’ Charles was drowned, aged 33, after being swept overboard from the yacht The Sword of Orion he was crewing during the 630 mile Sydney to Hobart Race, one of yachting’s most challenging contests. Ironically Glyn didn’t like ocean racing because the open sea made him seasick. Instead he was ranked fourth in the world for sailing the Star Class, a 22.5ft, two-man keelboat.

Most of these commemorations are for people who lived for a reasonable time. They had a good innings, you might say. But there is one for a young man who did not reach twenty, Roger Dyer 3 June 1981 – 27 February 2000. The inscription bears a quotation from Nelson Mandela: “It is not a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.”

Though we live in a largely secular age, we still need our own versions of spiritual commemoration.

Puffin shuttle’s passport to paradise

Pembrokeshire's Puffin shuttle in action

For me summer always ends precisely on 27 September, the date that marks the end of the Puffin Shuttle’s daily forays around the Pembrokeshire coast. After that it can only be hailed on Thursdays and Saturdays during its winter schedule travelling between St Davids and Marloes.

The Puffin Bus travels a meandering route along St Bride’s Bay to the benefit of the walkers of the county’s glorious coastal path. First thing it sets out from St David’s, calling at Solva, Newgale, Nolton, Druidston, Broad Haven and Little Haven, and St Brides, coming to a halt at Marloes before returning to St Davids.

For me it is a passport for my favourite occupation of walking this stretch of the coastal path. Over the past 30 years and more I reckon I must have hiked it well over 500 times. I have walked it so often that it appears regularly in my dreams. If I can’t get to sleep I imagine I’m striding out on a particular section and count the landmarks before dropping off.

There is something magical where the sea meets the land, sky and weather in an ever-changing vista. Partly it is the light that, in my experience, is only matched on the west coast of Ireland and along the Lleyn peninsula in north Wales. It explains why Pembrokeshire is home to so many artists.

Spring is a joy when the whites, blues, pinks and reds of the wild flowers and the bright yellow of the gorse carpet the land with a veritable rainbow of colour. At the height of summer the tall grass and hot damp air deliver a heady experience better than any beverage I know. Even in winter walking in the gales that hammer the coast is an exhilarating thing to do. Rough seas, dark threatening clouds and driving rain will transport you from the day to day. 

Walking the path on a regular basis inevitably reveals the permanent inhabitants. The bird life is extraordinarily varied. Apart from the swooping seabirds there are finches, tits, and curlews, plus the occasional wren, robin and blackbird. The best place for skylarks is St Brides where if you lie in the grass for long enough you’ll see them against the sky before they plummet to the earth.

Rabbits are common. Occasionally a badger appears. Late one evening I was startled by one in Bluebell Wood near Little Haven. I don’t know who was most taken aback, he (or she) or me. For a split second we stared at each other before the badger dived into the scrub below. At this time of year you might see a newly born seal pup in a closed stony inlet anywhere along the southern part of the coast. Once I caught a glimpse of a line of dolphins, from a cliff north of Broad Haven, skimming through the water with their dorsal fins occasionally breaking surface.

So as autumn turns to winter and the days ahead are shortening, I’m looking forward to 3 May next year when the Puffin Shuttle begins its schedule seven days a week and summer begins.