Pembrokeshire, a land of opportunity

Pembrokeshire is a relatively small county with a population of 117,800 and is located in the south-western corner of Wales with sea to the north, south and west. This coastal feature is the County’s greatest asset. Not only is the county home to the UK’s only coastal National Park, but the islands of Ramsey, Skomer, and Skokholm are important havens for wildlife. In addition Pembrokeshire has more Blue Flag beaches that any other county.

These coastal features combined with the attractive hinterland makes Pembrokeshire a popular visitor destination and many thousands of tourist and holidaymakers swell the number of people in the county at any one time. This year-round tourism has recently been boosted by the opening of Bluestone, a luxury holiday village complex.

The mixture of residents and tourists has benefited the retail scene and over the past twelve months a number of new shops have opened with Next, Homebase, Wickes, Pets at Home and Brantano opening their first stores in the County whilst Wilkinsons, Argos and Peacocks have added to their portfolios and both Tesco and Lidl have embarked on major store expansion programmes with both increasing the floor area of two of their stores. In addition a number of independent shops have opened or moved into larger premises, some of these serving niche markets such as surfing.

Like the rest of the UK Pembrokeshire has, in the past few weeks, seen the closure of Woolworth and MFI stores but even in these troubled times other national retailers are still actively seeking to open new shops, especially in Haverfordwest. No doubt the company researchers have been impressed by the official statistics that show that over the last few years the Pembrokeshire economy has outperformed many others.

Specifically the county, which previously had one of the highest rates of unemployment in Wales coupled with low wages, now boasts one of the best qualified workforces in Wales (with over a quarter holding NVQ 4 or above level qualifications) and that the creation of 8,900 jobs since the millennium has resulted in Pembrokeshire having one of the lowest levels of unemployment (2.2 percent November 2008).

While average wages in Pembrokeshire are still less than 90 percent of the UK average, they have increased and, according to the GMB union’s analysis of official figures, are now one of the highest in Wales.

Much of this new found prosperity has connections with the sea. The coastline referred to earlier not only being attractive to visitors and marine sports enthusiasts but providing a fantastic natural harbour with deep water facilities that can accommodate some of the largest ships afloat and this has enabled marine dependant industry to develop. As a result Milford Haven is the busiest port in Wales and one suited to the oil and gas industry where very large tankers can safely berth.

Consequently Pembrokeshire is the home for two of the UK’s major oil refineries (CHEVRON and MURCO) together with a large oil storage facility (SEM LOGISTICS) and two major Liquid Natural Gas import, storage and Re-Gasification facilities are nearing completion and shortly the county will be capable of providing about 30 percent of the UK’s gas needs as well as over 25 percent of the country’s refined oil products.

These LNG plants involve some of the worlds leading energy companies with Qatar Gas, Exxon Mobile and Total being involved in the South Hook LNG Terminal and Petronas, BG Group and 4Gas in Dragon LNG.

This form of gas supply will help the UK to cope with the demise of North Sea gas without becoming dependant upon gas from Russian sources. It is also anticipated that the volume of shipping servicing the LNG plants will result in Milford Haven becoming the UK’s third busiest port.

By the time you read this article it is hoped that the DECC (The Department of Energy and Climate Change) will have given approval for the UK’s largest gas fired power station to be built at Pembroke. The application was originally lodged by RWE n-power in January 2005 and has since been refined following extensive environmental studies.

The proposed 2,000MW power station will now be one of the most efficient in Europe and will have minimal impact on the local environment. The construction of the Power Station will include a new gas pipeline being installed under the Haven waterway to link to the new LNG facilities. Directional Drilling techniques will be employed to eliminate any disturbance of the riverbed.

This pipeline will also service the neighbouring Chevron Refinery where the availability of gas will enable the company to improve their production efficiency and will make the processes more environmentally sustainable.

Other low carbon energy projects are also being developed in Pembrokeshire. Quiet Revolution are manufacturing their vertical axis wind turbines in Pembroke Dock while a few hundred metres away in Technium Pembrokeshire, Infinergy are designing and developing wind farms. Meanwhile, back to the marine scene a number of companies are looking to develop and test prototype marine energy devices in the seas around Pembrokeshire, these include Wavedragon, Eon/Lunar Energy, Far Offshore and EC02.

Pembrokeshire County Council is actively promoting the development of renewable energy technologies in the County and the European Objective 1 funded Technium Pembrokeshire is a facility equipped to help companies working in this field.

The Technium, which provides small offices for high technology business start-ups as well as larger offices and workshops for more established companies, is also suitable for business from other disciplines including Bio-Sciences and Environmental goods and services.

The Technium, which is a partnership involving Pembrokeshire County Council, Swansea University and the Welsh Assembly Government, also houses the university’s Climate Change Research Centre which utilises the computing power of Blue Ice, an IBM supercomputer, to model various climate scenarios.

Further information about the Technium can be found on the Technium website or by contacting David Thomas, the Technium Manager on 01646 689 302. – david.thomas2@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

For details about retail or other industrial and commercial opportunities in Pembrokeshire contact the County Council’s Inward Investment Officer, Tony Streatfield on 01437 776166 – tony.streatfield@pembrokeshire.gov.uk