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REVIEW OF PART OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COUNTIES OF CEREDIGION AND PEMBROKESHIRE IN THE AREA OF THE COMMUNITY OF ST. DOGMAELS

REPORT AND PROPOSALS

Appendix 4

ST. DOGMAELS COMMUNITY COUNCIL’S

Response to the Draft Proposals recommended in the report of

THE LOCAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES

21st January 2001

Introduction

The members of St. Dogmaels Community Council wish to state their unanimous support for the proposed recommendation of The Boundary Commission reference number: 4.1 ‘ That the boundary between the Counties of Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire in the area of the Community of St. Dogmaels should be realigned as shown in green on the map at Appendix 6 to include the areas marked Area A and Area B within the County of Pembrokeshire’ They would like to express their thanks to the Commission for their deliberations, resulting in the production o f a fully detailed and comprehensive report.

The members feel that their Council has acted solely in the interests of the population of St. Dogmaels and that the informal report they presented was fair and reflected the wishes of a majority and as such they feel obliged to register concerns over certain points which they feel are either unfair, inaccurate or misleading made by interested parties and contained in the Draft Proposal Report. The Council has therefore decided to give a more detailed response than was previously anticipated.

Public opinion

Subsequent to the Boundary Commission’s suggestions to gauge and provide evidence of the opinions of both the Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire areas of the village, St. Dogmaels Community Council deliberated on ways to gather a consensus. As it had previously received a petition from the Ceredigion Ward, it was felt that any representations from different groups of villagers would not be seen to reflect majority opinion. Therefore the public were asked to write to the Boundary Commission stating their wishes. In order to help the frailer members of the community, a standard response was circulated by councillors (at no cost whatsoever to the ratepayer). This would also give people who did not agree with unification the chance to amend the form, by deleting support and substituting I do not support. It appears from the representations received that a large number of people wrote to the Commission stating widely varying reasons in favour of unification under Pembrokeshire and not primarily because of the differential in rates referred to in section 11 of Cardigan Town Council’s report.

It has been noted by our Council that several articles have appeared in the local press featuring inaccuracies such as Cllr. Llwyd Edwards’ assertion that St. Dogmaels had included the population of Bridgend in its report recommendations. We have enclosed press coverage concerning the boundary division taken from 1998 onwards to illustrate just who is maximising propaganda.

Ceredigion County Council

Ceredigion Council, in reference numbers 2 and 3 of their report, make the point that all main services are situated within Cardigan and are used by St. Dogmaels residents. It should be noted that Cardigan has a catchment area of approx 30,000 people (information supplied by Menter Aberteifi) who use the town’s facilities, including other Pembrokeshire villages such as Cilgerran. The Community Council question why St. Dogmaels is singled out and its usage of public services used as an argument for retaining part of the village in Ceredigion or transferring the Pembrokeshire side into Ceredigion. The Council wishes to add further information with regard to four of the services that Ceredigion have listed:

1. Cardigan Police Station

Unfortunately this is closed on Sundays and after 6pm on weekdays when calls are referred to Carmarthen. St. Dogmaels has been informed that a police station is due to be sited in Crymych to serve North Pembrokeshire.

2. Meals on Wheels

Different arrangements are now in place due to the efforts of St. Dogmaels Community Council. A Meals on Wheels scheme was recently set up when St. Dogmaels Community Council was made aware that the Pembrokeshire side of the village was not being served and that there was a waiting list for the Ceredigion side. The scheme is now funded by Pembrokeshire County Council and was brought into operation in October 2000. Meals are cooked in St. Dogmaels and delivered to residents of both the Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire parts of the village. Discussions with Ceredigion’s Social Services and the WRVS resulted in an agreement to alleviate the overstretched resources of The Hafod, Cardigan (the previous supplier) by arranging for St. Dogmaels luncheon club to have meals supplied by St. Dogmaels School. Payment is commensurate.

3. Town car parks

Cardigan car park charges are high (contributing greatly to Ceredigion’s revenue) and have been cited many times by both Cardigan Town Council and The Chamber of Trade as one of the principal reasons for the Town’s decline. St. Dogmaels’ car park is free for all to use. It has recently been upgraded substantially and new public toilet facilities are due to be erected this year.

4. Ceredigion Country Cars

The Community Council was unaware that Pembrokeshire residents could use this service and consequently will be glad to bring it to the attention of our residents, many of whom had previously relied on the Pembrokeshire Country Car service.

Ceredigion also recommend that the wishes of all the inhabitants affected by the review be ascertained (including the Town of Cardigan) reference number 3.1. Since then the Town Mayor, Cllr.Trevor Griffiths, has outlined plans to circulate a boundary review questionnaire to the local electorate as reported in the Tivy-Side Advertiser of 1st November 2000. As Cardigan’s population is 3,463 St. Dogmaels’ Community Council would question the validity of any exercise which involved consulting the whole Town over decisions concerning any future arrangements for 307 of St. Dogmaels’ residents.

Cardigan Town Council

Cardigan Council’s report, reference number 5, contained an extensive list of community services and an inference that any loss of derived from St. Dogmaels ratepayers would bring most of these to a standstill. It also implied that funding from Pembrokeshire is either non-existent, or not commensurate. However figures supplied by Pembrokeshire County Council reveal that most of this information is incorrect. The corrected data is listed in italics below:

Contained in The Boundary Commission’s report assessment, reference number 3.9, is the statement made by the Commission, “that the loss of precept to Cardigan Town Council would be offset, at least in part, by savings made in that there would no longer be a requirement to provide services to an area that is detached from the main part of the town.” This is true especially as there are many improvements needed within the St. Dogmaels Ceredigion area, including the updating of street lighting along Cwm Degwel. Several complaints about this have been received and referred to Cardigan Council. Within the last eighteen months our councillors have received representations from Ceredigion residents with concerns such as, social services availability (letter forwarded to the Town Council), absence of road signs, council rubbish bins, double yellow lines and the introduction of Ceredigion’s new taxi tariffs. The clerk has sent copies of letters etc to the relevant authorities when possible, in other instances residents have been advised to contact either Cardigan or Ceredigion Council.

Cross Border Activity

It is inferred by Cardigan, in reference number 10, that the Pembrokeshire Beach, Poppit Sands, gained Blue Flag Status largely through the efforts of TEEMI a council sub committee (chaired incidentally for 5 years by a Pembrokeshire Community Councillor). This is not correct, St. Dogmaels Community Council and Pembrokeshire Access Group worked tirelessly over a long period to meet the criteria involved ie dog banning and disabled access in accordance with their remit. Further assistance was given by Pembrokeshire National Park and TEEMI It should also be noted that the TEEMI members, who include representatives from various organisations such as the Countryside Commission for Wales and the Environment Agency, have recently voted to become autonomous, which should enable easier accessing of various future funding sources.

St. Dogmaels Landslip

Section 12 of Cardigan’s report touches on a major disaster that occurred in St. Dogmaels in 1994. For 5 years a huge amount of financial and practical aid was supplied by Pembrokeshire County Council as part of a vast stabilisation and drainage scheme that they undertook. This scheme requires ongoing monitoring and maintenance for an indefinite period. Continuity of both expertise and knowledge is essential. The consultants, Sir William Halcrow Ltd (based in Cardiff), and the contractors, Pembrokeshire Contract Services (Fishguard), continue to liase with Pembrokeshire County Council engineers. Numerous St. Dogmaels residents have registered concerns as to whether Ceredigion would be willing or could afford to finance this essential work. Reassurance as to the safety and stability of the village is vital to maintain confidence and to protect the local economy e.g. property values, tourism and trade.

Councillor Representation

St. Dogmaels Community Council are pleased that Cardigan Council’s fear of losing a Ceredigion County Councillor is unfounded, reference number 5.4 of the Commissions Consequential Arrangements. The Community Councillors also wish to emphasise that they support maximum representation for Cardigan at County level.

Ceredigion County and Cardigan Town Councillor Trevor T Griffiths, on page 4 of the report, reference 2.10 number 8, stated that ‘a combination of two communities would save the resources of 7 community councillors and one community clerk and this would be more effective and efficient.’ Contrary to this St. Dogmaels Community Council feel that, in view of councillors’ ever-increasing workload, due to lottery fund and Objective I applications etc, the cutting down of any voluntary resources (including councillors) would decrease rather than enhance efficiency. St. Dogmaels Community Council therefore support The Boundary Commission’s proposal that ‘the number of councillors on the St. Dogmaels Community Council be increased from 10 to 12,’ reference number 5.5.

St. Dogmaels Community Council

The members of St. Dogmaels Community Council have emphasised, within their section of the report, the leading role that both its Council and Pembrokeshire County Council have played in regenerating the whole of the village. There are several other points that need fuller illustration:

Llwybrau Llandudoch

Llwybrau Llandudoch was originally set up as a subcommittee of the Community Council in 1996. Although now autonomous, it has been chaired since its inception by Community Councillor Mr Iwan Dafis. The organisation has received funding from Menter Preseli (Pembrokeshire County Council) and donations from St. Dogmaels Community Council. In 1998 the group gained a prestigious award from the Prince’s Trust, in recognition of their work in opening up and maintaining footpaths throughout St. Dogmaels. Ceredigion MP Cynog Dafis was invited to open the flagship Mwtshwr footpath, which lies in Ceredigion.

To date seven footpaths (including three within the Ceredigion side of the village) have been upgraded and this environmentally desirable work carried out by the villagers is also making a substantial contribution to tourism within the locality.

Cymdeithas Cadw’r San

Cymdeithas Cadw’r San is a St. Dogmaels based organisation with a committee comprising of St. Dogmaels Community Councillors, a Pembrokeshire County Councillor, Heritage fishermen and local people. This group is trying to ensure the perpetuation of both Seine and Coracle fishing on the Teifi Estuary.

Participation in Town Projects

Cardigan’s inference made in the boundary report and in recent press statements, issued of late, that St. Dogmaels people use the Town is totally unfounded. This is quite the reverse as the support given to Cardigan both in the financial and voluntary sectors is very substantial. Over the years donations made by the Community Council to Cardigan associations have been commensurate with those of Cardigan’s to St. Dogmaels, bearing in mind that the Community Council’s precept amount is approximately 10 % of Cardigan’s. Members of St. Dogmaels Community Council and village residents play a very active part in helping Town Projects and many have served or currently serve on Cardigan based organisations including:

CONCLUSION

The case for the village of St. Dogmaels to be re-unified under one authority is in the interests of effective and convenient local government (The Local Government Act 1972). The present arrangements of a village split unevenly between two Counties are complicated and confusing. This important factor has been identified and considered by The Boundary Commission in their Draft Proposals. The Community Council consider that the case for re-unification under the authority of Pembrokeshire is overwhelming and feel that the following points illustrate this conclusion:

Cardigan Town Council has conducted its campaign mainly through exaggerated and emotive press reports and the distribution of questionnaires to town residents (reliant on postcodes in place of names and addresses). The Town Council attaches considerable importance to the loss of revenue (to both Cardigan and Ceredigion). There is however no reason to suppose that Cardigan need be any poorer for the loss of 307 residents as there would be no loss of revenue to the area since the population is not being diminished: It is merely a matter of apportioning revenue which can be re-negotiated between the two counties.

Since St. Dogmaels village was divided in 1832 for Cardigan to secure a political advantage, its residents have twice submitted representations, once in 1885 and again in 1976, to have the village re-unified within Pembrokeshire. Both attempts were thwarted by Cardigan who supplied arguments over their speculated economic loss.

We are now in the twenty first century and appealing for the third time. We hope that that the wishes of the people will be respected and that St. Dogmaels will be re-unified under the authority of Pembrokeshire County Council.

Cllr. Ian Gollop Chairman of St. Dogmaels Community Council’s Boundary subcommittee.

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