Protest against US radar project draws hundreds to Pembrokeshire beach

Local residents gathered in large numbers this summer on Newgale beach to display their opposition to the Ministry of Defence and US military’s DARC radar proposal for Cawdor Barracks in Brawdy.
The protest, displaying opposition to what would be a radar array consisting of 27 dishes as tall as four double-decker buses across an area surrounded visually by Pembrokshire Coast National Park, saw locals link hands in a line that stretched from most of the pebble bank at one end of the beach to the other, while a drone took footage overhead.
A spokesperson for local pressure group PARC Against DARC, said: “This has been another significant display of public opposition to DARC radar that just seems to grow and grow, following on from a petition against DARC nearly at 18,000 signatures, the official support of 37 elected politicians across the Senedd and Westminster in a statement of opinion and early day motion, and thousands of emails by locals having been sent to decision-makers.
“It’s overwhelmingly clear to us how much opposition there is both to DARC radar and to the proposed Newgale bypass road, which has just seen a flood of objections in its public consultation that went well over 90% against.
“It’s almost universally believed here that the road, which would decimate the Brandy Brook valley and cost tens of millions, would be required for both the construction and operation of DARC.
“While the MOD has failed to produce a promised Environmental Impact Assessment or consultation so far, the fact that the MOD are failing to include this road, the landing cable station in Brawdy Enterprise Park, and the requirement for either a huge number of pylons or extensive groundworks for miles together in one eventual planning application seems highly suspicious, and in our view possibly illegal.”
Tim Rees, director of local annual Pembrokeshire music event Unearthed Festival, speaking at the demo, which was held on August 3 said: “We have a beautiful coastline which the National Park has done a great job of preserving, and we’re about to turn a blind eye to decades’ worth of preservation, for what? For something we don’t have a say in, that won’t benefit tourism.”
Gordon Main of the STUN campaign against the Newgale bypass road remarked: “This is a pan-Wales issue and we should all wake up to it.”
PARC campaigner Jim Scott added: “Our local MP Henry Tufnell has done nothing more than parrot MOD propaganda right from the start of the people’s campaign. He has no plan, no ideas, and seems content to ride along in complicity with one of the most vehemently opposed proposals in modern times in the county, while the St Davids peninsula burns around us.
“We have no intention of easing up our pressure on UK and Welsh Labour decision-makers, and their refusal to live up to their jobs as public servants is something we are going to make sure that voters remember for as long as their disgraceful support for DARC continues,” he added.
©PARC Against DARC