Who are they trying to fool?

Sir,

In the December 5 issue of the Observer, County Clr. Michael Williams proposed that Pembrokeshire County Council should look into compulsory purchasing second homes in the conservation area.

I shall make my point on this matter in the second part of my letter. However, his suggestion on the matter regarding planning is, in my opinion, not draconian enough. I would go further and get the National Park to tighten up on all second home applications and re-builds.

Thanks to second home purchases and the buy-to-let market, many cannot afford a home and must pay large rents.

In the December 12 issue, Clr. Williams suggests an investigation into the compulsory purchase of the former Royal Gate House Hotel site. Combine this with his statement of the previous week and we now ask the question, where does he expect the council to get the money from?

They are going to take us back to the Dark Ages by turning our street lights off to save money; our services are reduced, they say, due to a lack of money from Cardiff Bay, yet they found the funds to increase their expenses. And just after the Iceland Bank fiasco, they admitted they had nearly £100 million stashed away.

Maybe Clr. Williams expects them to use this money.

One further question, how come PCC has got nearly £100 million put to one side, while saying they are short of funds?

Who are they trying to fool?

Mr. I. L. Williams,

Narberth.