Among matters considered and discussed at the monthly meeting of St. Mary Out Liberty Community Council were the following:

Matters arising

The clerk advised that he had reported the dog fouling matter to the dog warden at Pembrokeshire County Council. Notices had been received and circulated.

The dips in the carriageway near the New Hedges Tavern had also been reported, but there was no progress to report to date. The clerk would pursue this again.

Planning applications

Erection of 10 holiday hodges, Well Park Caravan Park, New Hedges - the clerk read a letter with reference to this application advising of a hearing to discuss public rights of way.

Erection of a dwelling on land to the north of Knightston Lodge, New Hedges - advice that permission had been refused was noted.

Erection of a dwelling on land to the south of Knightston Lodge, New Hedges - advice that permission had been granted with 10 conditions was noted.

Appeals

Pembrokeshire Cruse Bereavement Care - after consideration a donation of £10 was agreed.

The matter of the invitation by Kidney Wales Foundation to participate in the Walk for Life event to be held on Sunday, April 27, was discussed at length.

It was agreed to display the notices advertising the event, and also to send a donation of £10 from the council.

County CLR. Jon Preston's report

The Williams Commission: The Williams Commission has been established to review the way in which public services are governed and delivered and how that affects the functions and shape of local government, health boards, the National Parks and other public sector organisations and services.

The commission has recommended that agreement be made on the specific programme arrangement on local authority mergers by Easter 2014. There is sufficient evidence to prove that the status quo is not sustainable, either financially or in terms of the future quality of services.

The commission's premise is that one of the main problems facing the Welsh public services is its complexity, with more than 935 different organisations operating within the public sector across a multitude of boundaries.

They, therefore, recommend changes within existing Health Board, Police and Fire boundaries, within the European Union funding boundaries, and by merging existing local authorities.

Councils that will definitely be merged under the Williams Commission proposals include Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, Anglesey and Gwynedd, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda, and Newport and Monmouthshire.

The only council that remains untouched in all the options is Powys, while there are scenarios in which Swansea and Carmarthen would remain as standalone councils.

Community councils should have received a questionnaire regarding these proposals which I recommend we should respond to as there may be a direct impact on community councils in the future. It is unclear as yet how these proposals will affect the recent boundary review or if the review will be withdrawn altogether.

Severe weather: The recent spate of storms has caused extensive damage in the locality, particularly on the coastline.

Thankfully our community has experienced minimal damage, despite the high winds and heavy rainfall.

I would like to remind residents of the village to contact me without delay should they identify any unsafe structures.

Mature trees are also vulnerable during severe gales and any which appear dangerous should be reported immediately to me.

I can then make arrangements for the Pembrokeshire County Council maintenance team to make the area safe.

Report from county council budget meeting

Clr. H Rawson-Humphries had attended a meeting on February 5 at County Hall when the council discussed the budget for the coming year.

Clr. Rawson-Humphries advised that they had discussed a whole range of matters, and went on to elaborate on the individual departments.

The main topic was that all the individual budgets were facing cuts during the coming financial year in order that the county council could meet the new targets set by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Village matters

Dog fouling - this matter was still a problem, especially at the north end of the village where local people tend to walk their dogs. Notices were being placed on the lamp-posts in this area and the dog warden has promised to become more involved in an attempt to overcome this problem. It was agreed to continue to monitor the situation in the hope that the problem can be improved before the coming holiday period.

The litter within the village appeared to be under control at the present time. Again this will be monitored on an ongoing basis.

The matter of moving the litter bin near to the bus shelter near Highgrove was still in the hands of Pembrokeshire County Council. The footpaths at Knightston Bottoms had experienced difficulties, with several trees falling in the recent storms. The matter has been reported to Pembrokeshire County Council who have had a difficult time recently due to the severe weather. It was generally agreed that in spite of the very rough period of gales etc., the local area had escaped relatively lightly.

Playing field and Village Hall

County Clr. Jon Preston enquired if the playing field would be available for the use of young players of about eight years of age to play football, as their current facility was out of commission due to the poor weather.

It was reported that the field was very wet at present and it was likely that it was not suitable for use.

It was agreed that this was a matter for the Village Hall management committee to decide, whenever necessary.

Correspondence

The chairman read letters from Pembrokeshire County Council with reference to the website and from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority advising of the dates for a consultation period on the Local Development Plan.

There were several emails read from Pembrokeshire County Council, including information with reference to Mobile Library schedules, brochures that were received from Glasdon and a survey from Pembrokeshire Association of Local Councils.

Any other business

Clr. J Butland expressed his thanks to everyone for the welcome as a new councillor.

Clr. Mrs. Leyshon reported difficulty with the bin lining near the roundabout.

Clr. H Rawson-Humphries reported defective street lights. The clerk would report the matters to Pembrokeshire County Council.