So Pembrokeshire County Council has launched a ‘Pride in Place’ impact fund - welcoming ideas from members of the public on how to spend this pot of money. Some would say that the Local Authority hasn’t had a ‘pot to p*ss in’ for some time, so it was welcome news to hear that this £1.5 million in funding can be used to ‘make Pembrokeshire better’.

However, despite the County Council stating ‘we want your ideas’ - forgive the people of Pembrokeshire for being sceptical on whether any suggestions put forward will actually be considered, with an overwhelming feeling that this is just another box ticking exercise to make it seem that PCC’s officers - who will be tasked with spending>squandering the money - actually take on board one iota of any ideas that fall their way from the feedback forms submitted.

With the Pride in Place fund (in partnership with the UK Government) set out to support the the following key aims - creating, extending or improving community spaces; enhancing public spaces; and revitalising high streets and town centres - at least we may avoid a chunk of this money being spent on a contentious new ‘Instagram-friendly’ bridge for another of the county’s towns - as this pot of money won’t stretch as far to fund another £5.7million footbridge fiasco!

Pembrokeshire Council’s Deputy Leader, Cllr Paul Miller stated: “We can spend that improving town centres, community facilities, or our vital public spaces. There’s no fixed plan on how we’re going to spend this money.”

Labour MP for South Pembrokeshire, Henry Tufnell shared: “This fund is all about regenerating our local areas, and we want to make sure the money is used in the best way possible for our community.”

“I wanna hear from you, how we can make Pembrokeshire better.”

Thanks for the condescending invite to everyone to share their thoughts, but hasn’t it been glaringly obvious for quite a few years where the money needs to be spent to ‘make Pembrokeshire better’ - or have our elected councillors and MPs, tasked with making such fundamental decisions, been wasting everyone’s time...and indeed Council Tax all along?!