PCSO’S cockle work wins recognition

LAST week was Neighbourhood Policing Week of Action, recognising and celebrating the achievements of community policing.

PCSO Helen Fender, pictured, epitomises neighbourhood policing and her work to tackle a difficult and complex issue that has blighted the community she serves was recognised at Dyfed-powys Police’s recent annual awards.

PCSO Fender has worked to bring an end to unscrupulous cockle-pickers descending on St Ishmael, Kidwelly, Llanybri, Llansteffan and Laugharne, causing anti-social behaviour and affecting those communities.

To effect change, PCSO Fender looked at the issue and its cause, pinpointing an old by-law that allowed anyone to get a free permit to pick cockles in the Three Rivers Fishery cockle beds.

In 2017 there were more than 1,000 permit-holders – to obtain a permit people only have to give a name, address, contact details and a photograph for ID.

“It couldn’t go on this way as it was causing no end of issues for the community and the genuine fishermen who relied on picking cockles for a living,” she said.

“On the Burry Inlet there was no issue as it was much harder to get a permit.”

PCSO Fender worked with the Welsh Government to try to make the Three Rivers Fishery regulated as other cockle beds are.

A three-month consultation is being launched with the aim of bringing in tougher rules for permits to be issued, with requirements to include training, kit standards, their employment status for HMRC, and an annual fee of £800.

“When you’ve got 1,000 permits handed out to people from all over the country, there are going to be problems, and it impacts the local gatherers who depend on this industry to make a living,” she said.

“It was having a really detrimental effect on people in the area and it was proving dangerous, with numerous quads on the beaches and villages, even crossing railway lines.”

The Welsh Government Marine and Fisheries Division closed the Three Rivers Fishery cockle beds from 2012 to 2017 due to serious reports of antisocial behaviour, including people sleeping rough, litter not disposed of properly, no toilet facilities, and large articulated lorries trying to access small village roads.

Sergeant Gemma Davies said: “We’re hopeful of achieving a regulated permit system which can be monitored and ‘policed’ by the fisheries more effectively.”