Swansea politician 'incandescent' at west Wales colleagues' St Helen's objections
'I'm absolutely astounded that they've done this," said the Labour MP
Harris said she was 'absolutely astounded' by her west Wales colleagues' intervention
(Image: ITV News)
Neath and Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris says she is "incandescent" with rage after a cross-party group of politicians from Carmarthenshire called on the Welsh Government to intervene in the Ospreys' planned redevelopment of St Helen's.
Earlier this week, the region were granted permission by Swansea Council's planning committee for redevelopment work to start at the famous old ground, which they are hoping to move into before the end of the year as they leave their current home at the Swansea.com Stadium.
However, the following day, three Carmarthenshire politicians - Plaid Cymru MP Ann Davies, MS Cefin Campbell and Labour MP Nia Griffith - voiced concerns over the plans, while the planning committee also heard an objection from the Scarlets Supporters' Trust. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
The politicians raised their fears over the potential impact the redevelopment could have on regional rugby in west Wales, with Davies claiming that it "would clearly pose a threat to the viability of Parc y Scarlets". As a result, they have asked for the Welsh Government to step in on the matter and call it in.
However, Harris - who is also deputy leader of Welsh Labour - has hit out at her west Wales colleagues' intervention, branding it as "absolutely astounding" and "not appropriate" in a furious interview with ITV News.
"I see no reason why any politician decides to interfere in the business of, not only a different constituency, but a different region with a different local authority," she said. "I'm absolutely astounded that they've done this."
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Asked if she was given any prior warning to their intervention, the MP replied: "I wasn't, which has made things a lot worse. As a politician, if I ventured into somebody else's constituency or patch, it's common courtesy to inform the person that you intend to be on their territory.
"To actually come on to our turf and try to do something as underhand as this, is absolutely astounding."
When asked about her strong language, Harris said: "It reflects my anger. I am upset, I cannot tell you.
"I am incandescent that anyone thinks it is appropriate to interfere in the process and the workings of one constituency or in this case, one region, one local authority which has has nothing to do with them, in defence of an argument.
"I understand the argument, what I don't understand is why interfere in that process. It is not appropriate and I am really cross that they've done this. I have tried to contact one [of the MPs] and I have not had any success."
She added: "I think the WRU need to take responsibility for the fact that we are in this position.
"But the blame for what happened over the last 24 hours with the planning permission lies solely with the politicians who thought they would take things into their own hands and try to undermine a fair process, which is absolutely nothing to do with them."
It comes after Ospreys chief Lance Bradley admitted he was "quite surprised" by the concerns raised by the group of politicians, as he offered a confident response to their claims and stressed the benefits that a redeveloped St Helen's could bring not just for rugby but for the wider community.
"I'm flattered that he should think that we should have such a huge impact on our friends in Llanelli," said Bradley, "The fact is St Helen's isn't a new stadium, St Helen's is actually a very old stadium where Wales played their first international game, and we're very conscious of the fact that when we move there it's the redevelopment of an iconic ground.
"It isn't something new, and we will be fully respecting the heritage of the place and the history of the place to provide a top-class facility not just for the Ospreys but for Swansea RFC, Swansea University and a big part of the plans and something Swansea Council were very keen on is the community use as well. So I can't see it will have an impact on Parc y Scarlets."
He added: "We haven't been tipped a wink at all. There is a process going on with the WRU that all the clubs are involved in and as far as I'm aware we've all had the same amount of information, the same opportunities to input what we think, so that's certainly not the case.
"Were we surprised? Yes, we were a bit surprised because this isn't something that suddenly got announced yesterday, this is something we announced we were planning over a year ago.
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"So it was slightly surprising that some of the MPs and Senedd members from Carmarthenshire should wait until now to raise a concern. But that's their right to do that if that's what they want to do."
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