THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD last month exclusively reported on the defection of Milford Haven Councillor Stephen Joseph from Plaid Cymru to Jamie Adams’s ‘Independent Plus’ Party.
Councillor Jospeh simulataneously and coincindidentally unveiled a grand vision for Milford Haven. Those plans included building an outdoor swimming pool, a large water slide and regenerating the dilapidated town centre. Councillor Jospeh’s vision was ambitious and backed by the Council, which submitted the plans to Cardiff Bay in order to compete for funding.
At the time, Councillor Joseph thought that as a member of the ‘Independent Plus’ Party he would ‘get more done for the town’.
The first stage of the selection process is over and The Pembrokeshire Herald can report that the Milford Haven scheme failed to make it into the eleven-council field for consideration for the funding award. Milford Haven also missed out on the consolation of getting a share of £5m awarded to ‘lucky losers’ in the funding round. As a result Pembrokeshire is one of only four local authorities in Wales to miss out on funding under the scheme.
“Welsh Government minister Carl Sargeant said “We received 22 applications (one from each local authority) requesting over £250m grant for SOPs worth total of over £1bn. I am very pleased and impressed with the way that local authorities and their partners have engaged with this opportunity.
”My officials will continue to work with the other 11 local authorities to refine and explore other potential funding streams for their regeneration proposals.”
The Herald attempted to contact Councillor Joseph for a reaction to the news but he was unavailable.