THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 27 2017 Like us on Facebook facebook.com/thecarmarthenshireherald Cross Hands West gets underway


Carmarthenshire County Council Chief Executive Mark James: With Council Leader Cllr Emlyn Dole; Chief Executive of The Conygar Investment Company PLC Robert Ware; and Director of TRJ Ltd Dafydd Jones


Welsh Labour


13 News


with Lee Waters AM WORKERS in Trostre and


Port Talbot have a big decision to make on whether to accept the deal they have been offered by TATA. Politicians have been put under


pressure to keep their opinions to themselves, but I have not. My view is that the outcome of the


COUNCIL leaders have


welcomed the start of an ambitious development at Cross Hands West, which will create hundreds of new jobs for the area. Leader Cllr Emlyn Dole and Chief


Executive Mark James visited the 10 acre site recently to meet with Robert Ware, Chief Executive of The Conygar Investment Company PLC, which will deliver over 100,000 square feet of retail space. Some 260 new retail jobs are in


the pipeline, with more than a hundred more secured during the construction phase via Carmarthenshire-based contractor TRJ Ltd which will deliver the build.


Cllr Dole said the development


shows great confidence in the local economy. “This investment is the first for


Conygar in Carmarthenshire, and hopefully the start of many more,” he said.


“This demonstration of confidence


in our local economy, and the company’s commitment to creating new jobs in the county, is something we truly welcome. This is good news for the area, and a sign of a prosperous future ahead.” Mr Ware said: “We are pleased


to see work starting on site at Cross Hands, which is an ambitious investment for Conygar. We are


particularly pleased to have secured a local contractor which will have a significant impact locally, with our investment securing jobs and training opportunities for TRJ’s workforce and sub-contractors.” Dafydd Jones, Director of TRJ


Ltd, added: “As a Carmarthenshire company, we are delighted to have been chosen by Conygar to deliver this cornerstone project at Cross Hands. This will keep a large team of directly employed local people busy. We were fortunate to have made a good start on site at the end of last year and are on target for completion to our client's required date later in the year.”


Farmers can’t ‘shoulder the burden alone’ THE FARMERS’ UNION OF


WALES (FUW) has told Assembly Members in Cardiff at its annual Farmhouse Breakfast that farmers can’t be expected to shoulder the burden of in-effective bovine disease control measures any longer and renewed its call to tackle the disease in badger populations. Speaking at the 17th Farmhouse


Breakfast, FUW President Glyn Roberts told Assembly Members: “We cannot expect farmers to continue to shoulder the burden of new interventions without there being appropriate support, nor can we ignore the call for pro-active management of disease in wildlife.” Mr Roberts acknowledged that whilst


farmers see some progress in terms of dealing with diseased badgers, the FUW strongly urges the Welsh Government to address the issue of badger culling far more robustly. “Nearly 10,000 cattle were


slaughtered last year, in a one-sided approach to dealing with the problem. The results of the recent consultation show that the farmers of Wales are expecting a more robust solution that also deals with wildlife,” he told Assembly Members and breakfast guests. He further stressed that we must not


fall into the trap of forming opinions based on emotions rather than facts in political and public life and that there is an urgent need to base our future strategy on evidence-based information from impartial research.


vote will have an impact on the whole area. If workers vote to reject the deal, the Heavy End at Port Talbot will close, hundreds of workers will lose their jobs and there will be a big ripple effect on the whole economy. That is not something I can stay silent about. I don’t blame the workers for


being angry. There are steelworkers who have spent decades working seven shifts in a row; shift patterns that have ignored public holidays, just as they’ve ignored weekends and standard working weeks. I’ve been in touch with workers from Llanelli who have had to work nights and long days in highly stressful, intensely physical environments, all on the promise that at 55 they could retire on a decent pension. And now - for many, at the


eleventh hour - they feel they’re being done-over by a company they’ve understandably lost faith in. They don’t believe the guarantees, and for many who are within reach of retirement, they are being asked to take a significant cut. One man described it to me as being asked to jump into a black hole whilst they whisper ‘we’ll catch you’.


I’ve been clear from the moment


the deal was announced that this is economic blackmail by a multinational company playing off governments and workers to try and minimise its costs and maximise its profits. The anger is real and


understandable and there’s risk that they will reject the offer. TATA need to listen to this if they want to salvage the situation. I have met with the Chief


Executive of TATA in the UK, as has First Minister Carwyn Jones. And the message back is: the deal is the deal. I have been critical of Plaid who


have called on workers to reject it. They are jumping on the bandwagon of legitimate worker discontent, but it is deeply irresponsible of them to do so when they know that the impact of a ‘no’ vote could decimate the industry. The livelihood of hundreds of families would be wiped out if TATA put its Welsh operations into receivership. Not only would jobs go but the pension fund would take an immediate 10% hit when it is taken into the Government’s Pension Protection Fund. In fact, the Allied Steel and Wire workers say they only got around 50% of their pension back after it went into the fund. I do not envy the choice TATA workers have to make. We need to make sure we are not


put in this position again, and focus on developing jobs where we are not held to blackmail by big foreign companies.


(L-R): Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies (event sponsor), Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths, and FUW President Glyn Roberts


Appreciating that we are living in


different times, challenging times, and perhaps the most uncertain times that many will have experienced in decades, Mr Roberts further said that the decision to leave the European Union will have a profound effect on the Welsh economy, none more so than the agricultural sector. “Although we must be optimistic


and hope for the best possible outcome following the referendum result and the plans laid out by Prime Minister Theresa May, we cannot hide from reality: 90% of Welsh agricultural exports go to the EU, and 80% of farmers income is derived from the Common Agricultural Policy,” added Mr Roberts. Breakfast guests in Cardiff Bay


further heard that the Union has spent a lot of time around tables with other


organisations discussing a way forward for the agricultural industry in the last six months and that in collaboration with the Welsh Government, the FUW and other organisations, have come together to craft a vision for agriculture post-Brexit. “I’m really pleased at both the


progress and the level of engagement that we have seen over recent months but none of us truly know what the future holds and of course the details of any settlement will be crucial. “But the FUW is convinced that the


devolved powers for agriculture will be best managed through a carefully crafted framework that recognises the power of devolution. And by working closely with our government here in Wales, we will be able to create a solution that is right for Wales.”


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