Councillors to visit controversial radar site following 1,100 objections

Bruce Sinclair, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors are set to visit the site of a controversial military radar development in west Wales after more than 1,100 objections were lodged against plans to install 27 antennas at a former RAF base.

In an application submitted earlier this year to Pembrokeshire County Council following a public consultation, the Ministry of Defence wants to install 27 radar antenna and a long list of associated works at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy.

The worldwide network of sensors, called the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC), will track active satellites and other objects, and would utilise three sites worldwide.

Part of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, in the USA, the UK and Australia, it will help the aim of “enabling 360-degree coverage of the sky at all times of day and under any weather conditions”.

Then-Defence Secretary Grant Shapps named Cawdor Barracks the preferred UK site in late 2023.

At their November 3 meeting, county planning committee members were due to discuss the scheme but could not decide it because the application had been called in for determination by the Welsh Government.

A supporting statement says of the DARC scheme: “This capability is critical to protect and defend the services provided by satellites, ensuring continuity and resilience against collisions or debris-related incidents.

“Without DARC, the UK faces a significant risk of losing access to these vital services, which would have severe consequences for national security, economic stability, and public safety.”

Objectors protested outside the barracks and County Hall in Haverfordwest, while more than 1,100 objections were submitted to county planners, including from actor Jerome Flynn, known for Soldier Soldier, Robson & Jerome and Game of Thrones, who called it “the most unspeakably abominable planning application led by the US military, backed by Donald Trump”.

Campaign group PARC against DARC, which was set up in 2024 to oppose the scheme, has attracted more than 20,000 signatures to its petition and described DARC as “part of a weapons system designed to track and target satellites belonging to other countries around the world”.

It added: “It is being developed for the US Space Force, which was created under Donald Trump, at a time when US military spending has doubled since he took office. That is why DARC has been described as a significant escalation in the militarisation of space.”

At the November planning committee meeting, members were initially recommended to approve the scheme had it not been ‘called in,’ but heard Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) had raised an issue of a need for the scheme to be publicised as a departure from the development plan, with more publicity needed before the committee could “lawfully proceed to consider the merits” of the scheme itself, with any debate “strictly limited” to a procedural course of action at the November meeting.

Members could either defer the application until the publicity period ended or visit the site, with the application returning to a future meeting in either case.

Members heard Brawdy Community Council backed the scheme, saying it would secure a “long-term strategic future of the Brawdy site itself”, while a scheme representative said rejecting it would pose “significant risks to national security” and called it “a vast opportunity for the economy of Wales”.

But Roy Jones of PARC against DARC warned that “rival superpower China” viewed the scheme as “a significant escalation” likely to increase the area’s targeting priority.

Planning committee chair and local member Cllr Mark Carter later called for a site visit to Brawdy so members could assess the potential visual impact.

Members unanimously backed the site visit, with the scheme due to return at a future meeting.

The scheme is expected to create 90 full-time equivalent construction jobs and 60 operational roles covering operation, maintenance and security.

St Davids City Council members also unanimously opposed the proposals during the pre-application consultation.