#henrytufnellmp — Public Fediverse posts

TENBY: MP demands Welsh Water answers after boy hospitalised swimming in sea — as iconic North Beach loses Blue Flag for third time

Tenby North Beach has lost its Blue Flag status for the third time after its water quality dropped from “excellent” to “good” — triggering a furious response from the area’s MP and fresh calls for Welsh Water to be held to account.

Henry Tufnell, Conservative MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, has written to Welsh Water chief executive Roch Cheroux demanding an urgent plan to prevent further pollution incidents, after a young boy was hospitalised with sickness and diarrhoea following a swim in the sea at Tenby last week.

The same week, Natural Resources Wales issued a no-swim alert at Lydstep Haven — just a few miles from Tenby — due to concerns over water quality on 6 May, with warning signs still in place as late as 11 May.

Welsh Water subsequently clarified that the Lydstep incident was not linked to their infrastructure. NRW confirmed on 6 May that the no-swim alert at Lydstep was caused by a damaged privately owned sewerage system discharging onto the beach — not a Welsh Water overflow. Welsh Water said they had not spilled in the Tenby area for the preceding two months.

Lydstep Haven Beach (Image: Visit Wales)

In his letter to Welsh Water, dated 12 May, Tufnell described the situation as “extremely concerning” and said Welsh Water’s poor environmental performance now posed “a serious risk to the health and wellbeing” of his constituents and visitors to the area.

“A situation like this has serious implications for our local economy, which relies heavily on tourism, particularly during the summer months when visitors rightly — and wisely — come to enjoy Pembrokeshire’s beaches,” he wrote. He asked Welsh Water to set out what immediate steps it would take to address the incidents at Lydstep and Tenby, and how it would ensure Pembrokeshire’s bathing waters were safe for everyone.

Henry Tufnell MP’s letter to Welsh Water Chief Exec, Roch Cheroux

The loss of Tenby North’s Blue Flag was confirmed in today’s 2026 Wales Coast Awards, announced alongside the retention of Blue Flag status for a string of Swansea and Gower beaches. Pembrokeshire County Council did not apply for the Blue Flag for North Beach this year because the water quality had fallen below the required standard. Blue Flag beaches must meet the highest water quality thresholds — “good” is not sufficient to qualify.

The beach is one of Tenby’s most famous — used for Ironman Wales and the town’s Boxing Day Swim, and central to Tenby’s identity as one of Wales’s most celebrated coastal destinations. It previously held Blue Flag status for more than 25 consecutive years before first losing it in 2022.

This is the third time North Beach has lost the award. It failed to retain Blue Flag status in 2022 and 2023 when water quality dropped from “excellent” to “good”, recovered, and has now slipped again — raising serious questions about whether the underlying causes were ever fully resolved.

Water quality at Tenby North is tested by NRW each summer, with samples assessed for two types of bacteria. Welsh Water said the samples that triggered the downgrade were taken in July and August last year — and crucially, said there were no storm overflow spills in the area in the weeks leading up to those dates.

A Welsh Water spokesperson said: “These bacteria can originate from a range of environmental sources. Improving water quality is a shared challenge and progress will only come through coordinated action across sectors. Factors such as rural land use, urban runoff, industry, soil erosion, illegal misconnections and private septic systems all play a part.”

The company added it is investing more than £2.3 million a day to improve its services, including £2.5 billion between 2025 and 2030 on environmental improvements across Wales. NRW said it is actively investigating the reason for the drop in water quality, but no cause has yet been determined.

Owen Derbyshire, chief executive of Keep Wales Tidy, said the news was disappointing and described Tenby North as “an important local beauty spot and key tourist attraction.” He said the organisation was committed to working with authorities to help restore the beach’s water quality and regain its Blue Flag standing.

The area’s recent pollution history adds to the concern. In July 2024, Welsh Water reported a burst rising main near Tenby that sent sewage into the River Ritec, prompting NRW to declare an “abnormal situation” at Tenby South Beach, Castle Beach, North Beach and Penally Beach. Public warning signs were erected before being lifted after repairs and testing.

Tufnell said he would be speaking at the Broad Haven Paddle Out Protest on Saturday — part of a national day of action by Surfers Against Sewage across more than 50 locations — and said he would continue doing everything within his power to hold Welsh Water to account.

Tenby Castle Beach and South Beach have both retained their Blue Flag status in the 2026 awards — Castle Beach having held the award for an impressive 25 consecutive years — making the loss of North Beach’s flag all the more stark.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

SWANSEA: Four of Swansea’s beaches once again fly the Blue Flag — as the city’s marina picks up the award too
Caswell, Langland, Port Eynon and Swansea Marina all retain their Blue Flag status in 2026.

GOWER: Protesters to rally at Caswell Bay this Saturday as data reveals Welsh Water’s worst decade for pollution
Surfers Against Sewage mobilise across Wales this weekend as Welsh Water’s pollution record comes under scrutiny.

Welsh Water told to pay £45m for ‘unacceptable’ sewage failures
Ofwat found serious and unacceptable breaches in Welsh Water’s sewage operations.

PORT TALBOT: Aberavon beach wins prestigious Seaside Award
The only beach in Neath Port Talbot to be recognised in the 2026 Wales Coast Awards.

#BlueFlag #HenryTufnellMP #IronmanWales #KeepWalesTidy #Lydstep #LydstepHavenBeach #pollution #sewage #Tenby #TenbyNorthBeach #WelshWater

PEMBROKESHIRE: Planning application lodged for 27 giant radar dishes at Brawdy as campaigners say Morgan’s intervention doesn’t go far enough

A planning application for the controversial Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability installation at Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire has been formally submitted to Pembrokeshire County Council, as the project becomes one of the most politically charged issues of the Senedd election campaign.

The Ministry of Defence lodged the application on 23 March, following a statutory pre-application consultation period that ran from 23 February to 22 March 2026. Pembrokeshire County Council will now determine whether to grant planning permission for the scheme, which would see 27 radar dishes — each approximately 15 metres in diameter and 21 metres tall — installed at the former RAF Brawdy site.

The planning application arrived just weeks after First Minister Eluned Morgan sparked headlines by calling for the UK to halt its involvement in DARC, citing Donald Trump’s conduct and questioning whether the US remained a reliable partner. Morgan, who is also Welsh Labour’s lead Senedd candidate in the Ceredigion Penfro constituency where the site is located, stopped short of opposing the project outright — calling only for a pause while Trump remains in office.

Two dishes visible over rooftops and hedges from the village street. Gives a sense of how they’d look from a residential area.
Image: Ministry of Defence pre-application consultation report, March 2026

Anti-radar campaign group PARC Against DARC — Pembrokeshire Against Radar Campaign — responded on Thursday, welcoming Morgan’s intervention but saying her position fell far short of what was needed to stop the scheme.

A spokesperson for the campaign said the issue was “clearly in the minds of voters for the upcoming Senedd election” and may have been “reported back to Morgan from the doorsteps.” The campaigners said they feared Morgan could simply reverse her position if re-elected, and argued that calling for a pause was a far weaker stance than the outright opposition the project deserved.

Their response came with sharp words for Henry Tufnell, the Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, who broke ranks with Morgan to defend the scheme and cited jobs for the local area as a key factor in his support.

The campaign said it was “absolutely unbelievable how out of touch Henry Tufnell is on the whole DARC debate,” and claimed the MOD’s Environmental Impact Assessment showed that direct local employment from the scheme would amount to a maximum of 20 permanent roles, with the remainder of the operational staff made up of US personnel.

However, the MOD’s own public consultation materials, distributed to around 2,390 households in the area in August 2024, stated that the scheme would bring a permanent presence of up to 100 UK military and civilian personnel to the site, along with up to 120 short-term construction jobs. The campaign disputes those figures, arguing the full EIA tells a different story about the proportion of roles that would go to local people.

Swansea Bay News has not independently verified the campaign’s interpretation of the EIA, and the MOD has not responded to their characterisation of the jobs figures.

The campaign also alleged that the public consultation on the scheme had not been properly publicised to local residents. However, documents from the MOD’s pre-application consultation report — submitted as part of the planning application — show that community newsletters were posted to 2,390 households via Royal Mail in August 2024, and that two public drop-in events held in Solva and St Davids in September 2024 drew more than 420 attendees, with 305 feedback forms returned. A further newsletter was distributed to an extended area when the statutory consultation opened in February 2026.

An MOD photomontage showing how the DARC radar array would appear from Trefgarn Owen. Image: Ministry of Defence pre-application consultation report, March 2026

The MOD’s consultation documents also include photomontages showing what the radar array would look like from locations around the site. Seen from the local road to Brawdy, several dishes are clearly visible above the hedgerow. From Trefgarn Owen to the north, the full array of dishes appears strung across the open skyline. From Penycwm village, dishes are visible above the rooftops.

The campaign alleged that the MOD’s EIA had confirmed the visual impact of the scheme would be adverse from the majority of assessed viewpoints, and substantially adverse from at least a fifth of them. Swansea Bay News has not independently reviewed the full EIA.

PARC Against DARC said it believed deep divisions had now opened within the Labour Party over the issue, and that Morgan’s intervention was a sign she was aware of the political risks heading into the May 7 election. However, the campaign also acknowledged what it described as Morgan’s bravery in publicly criticising Trump, noting his track record of targeting critics.

Both Plaid Cymru and the Wales Green Party have opposed DARC since the project was announced. A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said Morgan’s intervention was “nothing but a last-ditch attempt to cling on to her seat,” pointing out that the party had consistently called on the UK Government to prioritise rebuilding European ties in response to Trump’s foreign policy positions.

Plaid passed a motion formally opposing DARC at its annual conference in October 2024 and tabled a parliamentary motion in Westminster in March 2025. A Statement of Opinion tabled in the Senedd in January 2025 by Plaid MS Cefin Campbell attracted signatures from 15 members of the Welsh Parliament, including several Labour MSs — among them Cardiff North MS Julie Morgan, Swansea East MS Mike Hedges and Aberavon MS David Rees. The motion called on the Welsh Government to commission an authoritative independent impact assessment of the DARC scheme.

Wales Green Party leader Zak Polanski welcomed Morgan’s comments, writing on X that standing up to the US “must mean more than words,” and calling for closer ties with EU neighbours.

Downing Street has not changed its position. A spokesperson said this week that the DARC programme “will secure long-term jobs in Pembrokeshire and Wales, and help protect essential satellite communication.”

The Ceredigion Penfro constituency, which covers the Brawdy area, is expected to be among the more competitive seats on 7 May, with Plaid Cymru fielding a strong candidate against Morgan.

PARC Against DARC is urging people to vote for parties opposed to the project at the Senedd election. More information, including the campaign’s consultation response and lobbying resources, is available at parcagainstdarc.com.

As Swansea Bay News reported yesterday, the DARC programme is designed to detect and track objects in deep space up to 36,000km from Earth, forming part of a three-nation network alongside installations in the US and Australia.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Welsh first minister calls for halt to Pembrokeshire space radar project over Trump’s “contempt for our country”
Eluned Morgan said the US under Trump was no longer the reliable partner it once was.

Pembrokeshire barracks named as preferred site for new deep space radar
Cawdor Barracks in Brawdy was confirmed as the UK’s preferred location for the DARC installation in 2023.

#Brawdy #CawdorBarracks #DARC #ElunedMorganMS #HenryTufnellMP #PARCAgainstDARC #PembrokeshireCountyCouncil #SeneddElection2026

TENBY: “Tenby has been let down” — councillors demand more police on streets as stabbing sparks fury over rising youth disorder

Elected councillors in Tenby have issued an angry call for more visible policing in the town after Tuesday night’s railway station stabbing — with one saying the town has “been let down” and another warning that many residents no longer feel safe in their own community.

Four teenagers aged between 13 and 17, all from the Pembroke area, were stabbed at Tenby railway station on Tuesday evening after serious disorder broke out involving a large group of youths. All four have since been discharged from hospital, with British Transport Police confirming their injuries are not considered life-threatening or life-changing.

A 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and both remain in police custody as the investigation continues.

Superintendent Jon Cooze of British Transport Police said the force had launched a thorough investigation and was keeping an open mind as to the background of what had happened. He thanked Dyfed-Powys Police colleagues for their quick actions at the scene and urged anyone who witnessed the incident or the events leading up to it to come forward.

“We understand the concern an incident of this nature will have caused in the community,” he said, “and while we believe it to be an isolated incident, passengers will notice an increased presence of officers in the area who are there to provide reassurance.”

He also asked the public not to share or speculate on footage circulating online while detectives concentrate on their investigation.

But the stabbing, serious as it is, has proved to be the breaking point in what councillors say has been a worsening pattern of youth disorder in the town — one they say police have repeatedly failed to address.

Reports on social media suggest trouble had been building throughout the day, with large numbers of youths gathering on North Beach. Earlier the same evening, Pembrokeshire County Council was forced to close the public toilets near the multi-storey car park after a gang of youths vandalised them.

One resident described the situation as having become “intolerable for weeks.” They said groups of up to 15 youths had been regularly causing havoc in the multi-storey car park, playing rugby in the road, climbing on bus shelters and screaming — and that police had been called several times without result. “There’s never an officer available in our area,” they said. “It’s not good enough.”

Another resident said hundreds of teenagers had been arriving in Tenby by train from across the county during recent days, vandalising toilets, stealing from local shops and abusing and attacking passers-by. “Transport for Wales and the police should be monitoring it,” they said. “With social media, AI and other systems, this behaviour should have been prevented before it escalated.”

Cllr Williams, county councillor for Tenby’s North ward, said the violence itself was not new — only the use of knives. He told the Tenby Observer he had emailed Dyfed-Powys Police about related concerns approximately three weeks ago and had not received a response. Officers are due to visit him at his home on Thursday, when he said he would be making “a very strong argument for a far more visible police presence in Tenby.”

“Tenby has been let down, despite an ever increasing precept being imposed upon us,” he said. “We have a right to feel safe in our community, and I know many that no longer do so.”

He noted that a CCTV monitoring system once operated from Tenby Police Station but that the station now appears to be closed. He said he would also be discussing the town’s needs with the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, county councillor for Tenby’s South ward, described the stabbings as a shock but said the wider problem of anti-social behaviour was well known. He pointed to Dyfed-Powys Police’s summer Operation Lion initiative — which brings additional officers into the town during the peak tourist season — and said he now believes it needs to be extended to other busy periods such as school holidays.

“We know that an increased police presence is an important part of keeping communities safe,” he said. “I will work with all parties to keep Tenby safe and encourage the police and PCC to do all that they can to ensure that this is a one-off incident.”

Tenby Town Council, speaking through Mayor Cllr Dai Morgan, said the behaviour seen this week does not reflect the town’s values or those of the overwhelming majority of its young people. The council called for more visible policing “particularly during busy periods, to provide reassurance to the community and to act as a deterrent to further incidents,” and said it would continue to work with police, Pembrokeshire County Council and partner agencies on longer-term solutions.

Henry Tufnell, MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, said he was deeply saddened by the events. “My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of those involved,” he said. “I know our community will be deeply shocked by these events, but we are all so grateful for the vital services of the emergency first responders on the scene.”

Samuel Kurtz MS, Senedd member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, called for zero tolerance on knife crime. “This kind of violence has no place in our communities and cannot be accepted under any circumstances,” he said. “Those responsible must face the full force of the law. We all deserve to feel safe where we live.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference 916 of 07/04/26. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

TENBY: Four teens stabbed at railway station as two arrested and line closed
Our original report on Tuesday night’s stabbing at Tenby railway station.

LLANELLI: Police crack down on North Dock anti-social behaviour hotspot as spring season begins
Officers move to address disorder at a well-known trouble spot as warmer weather arrives.

SWANSEA: Police impose 48-hour dispersal order on city centre after Easter holiday disorder
Officers respond to disorder in Swansea city centre over the Easter break.

#antiSocialBehaviour #BritishTransportPolice #DyfedPowysPolice #featured #HenryTufnellMP #Pembroke #PoliceAndCrimeCommissioner #SamuelKurtzMS #Tenby #TenbyTownCouncil #TenbyTrainStation #TransportForWales

Tonia Antoniazzi and Henry Tufnell among 60 Labour MPs to back call banning social media for under 16s

The MPs have joined a growing push to ban all under‑16s from using social media, warning that children are being exposed to addictive platforms and harmful content on a daily basis.

The joint letter says that children are becoming “anxious, unhappy and unable to focus on learning” because of the sheer amount of time spent online.

The MPs point to research showing the average 12‑year‑old spends 29 hours a week on a smartphone, much of it on platforms they say are “designed to be addictive”. They warn that mental‑health referrals are soaring, with more than 500 children a day being sent for anxiety support in England alone.

The letter argues that the burden shouldn’t fall on parents, but on tech giants, who they say must be forced to enforce age limits properly.

The push follows a major move in Australia, where new laws now block under‑16s from having accounts on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Meta says it removed around 550,000 accounts in the first days of the crackdown.

The MPs say the UK risks “being left behind” unless it follows suit.

Alongside Antoniazzi and Tufnell, the other Welsh signatories are Ruth Jones (Newport West), Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) and Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire & Glyndŵr).

Letter to Prime Minister, Kier Starmer calling for a minimum age of 16 to be able to access social media
(Image: Fred Thomas MP) #children #HenryTufnellMP #KierStarmer #PrimeMinister #socialMedia #socialMediaBan #ToniaAntoniazziMP