Milford Mercury | Local News, Sport & Entertainment

Milford not polluting the Haven!

From the Milford Mercury, first published Friday 20th Jun 2003.

Dear Sir

Re: 'Grotty Gelliswick row rumbles on' (Mercury June 16)

This must be a first but I have to agree with Cllr George Max. It is totally wrong for somebody involved in tourism in another part of Pembrokeshire to decry the opposite end of the county by making a statement that raw sewage is being poured into the sea.

That was a fact in the heyday of the UDC - they put screens in the try and alleviate the problem but never really conquered it - but today, sewage no longer flows into the Haven, just clean, clear water.

In 1983, I went out with my family on my boat to do a bit of fishing off Stack Rock. We were in a good area for fishing but, puzzlingly, we weren't having any luck. When the tide turned, all the sewage that had built up over many years rose to the surface. The smell was horrific. I put the boat in the garage and vowed that I would not go out on the water again until the problem was sorted.

WhenI got on the district council, I campaigned like hell about the sewage going out, not at Gelliswick but at Hakin Point. I was also delighted to be appointed to the Port Health Authority, working with south Pembrokeshire councillors to sort out the Haven. This resulted in a £12.5 million sewage works on the docks, just behind the shopping complex.

A lot of things have changed in the last 20 years, and Milford, the largest town in Pembrokeshire, is no longer polluting the Haven. That's a fact.

To say that it is, is a slight on all the hard work put in by various people, including Welsh Water who, when asked to clean up Milford Haven, answered the call.

Mr Spencely should apologise and get his facts right.

Eddie Setterfield Cromwell Road Milford Haven

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