When the votes were counted after the Senedd election earlier this month, the campaign against Donald Trump’s proposed deep space radar array in Pembrokeshire suddenly had a very different political landscape to work with.
Plaid Cymru — which voted at its national conference in October 2024 to take action against the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC) — is now in government. Rhun ap Iorwerth is Wales’s new First Minister. And one of his first cabinet appointments — Siân Gwenllian as Local Government, Housing and Planning Minister — now places one of the most significant planning decisions in Wales’s recent history directly on her desk.
On 14 May, the campaign group PARC Against DARC formally submitted a request to the new Welsh Government to ‘call in’ the DARC planning application — a mechanism that would transfer the decision from Pembrokeshire County Council to Welsh ministers, putting Siân Gwenllian in the chair for a decision that could set Wales and Westminster on a collision course.
The Ministry of Defence submitted its planning application to Pembrokeshire County Council in April for 27 radar dishes at Cawdor Barracks in Brawdy — a short distance from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the only coastal national park in Britain. The dishes would form part of a system to track and identify objects in deep space, giving the US military capabilities it has publicly described as a tool for dominating space.
The public window to submit objections to Pembrokeshire County Council closes on 20 May. That means anyone who wants their voice heard has days left to act.
Campaigners say the numbers are already stark. Of 498 responses received by the MOD during its pre-application statutory consultation, 401 used PARC’s own template objection email. All other responses summarised in the report were also objections. PARC claims this amounts to a credible 100% of recorded public comments opposing the scheme — a figure the MOD has not disputed.
The jobs argument — which Pembrokeshire West MP Henry Tufnell has used to support the project — is also under fierce challenge. The MOD’s own Environmental Impact Assessment concedes that any jobs created would be of “low numbers” and “not significant” in the context of the county’s 49,000-strong workforce.
PARC says the real picture is far worse. The project would require the evacuation of the 14th Signal Regiment from Cawdor Barracks — a unit the campaign says numbers around 600 personnel. Against that, the MOD’s own documents claim just 40 to 60 new full-time jobs. Even at the most optimistic reading, PARC argues that amounts to a net loss of between 340 and 580 local jobs — and that most of the claimed new posts would be filled by US personnel rather than local workers.
The MOD argues the regiment was already planning to relocate by 2028. PARC disputes that too, pointing to a decades-long history of on-off closure plans at Cawdor Barracks stretching back to 2009 — with the regiment declared for closure and then reprieved multiple times. Former MP Stephen Crabb described it in Parliament as a “long drawn-out on-off, on-off discussion.”
Plaid Cymru’s opposition to DARC is well established. In April 2024, Plaid MS Cefin Campbell — who was re-elected for Sir Gaerfyrddin at this month’s election — tabled a statement of opinion in the Senedd opposing the development. Nearly a third of all sitting members signed it. Plaid MP Liz Saville-Roberts also tabled an Early Day Motion against DARC in Westminster.
“Plaid Cymru has a long and honourable history of promoting peace around the globe and opposing militarism at every level,” Campbell said at the time. “We cannot therefore support the construction of DARC and give space to American militarism on our land.”
Even the previous Welsh Government under Eluned Morgan called for a pause to the project in April, citing Trump’s “contempt for our country” as making the US an unreliable partner. Campaigners said at the time it didn’t go far enough — but with Plaid now in the Senedd, they believe they finally have a government willing to go further.
PARC is preparing a 150,000-word formal objection, covering visual impact, wildlife, health concerns, socioeconomic impacts and what it calls the MOD’s “maladministration of public consultations.” The group has been gathering signatures on a petition — which has passed 19,000 — and has clocked up more than 160 news articles covering the campaign since 2024.
Campaigners say the new Planning Minister is heading for a baptism of fire. “The election of the new Welsh Government is a huge and seismic development from our perspective,” PARC said. “We know that the party in control of Wales has a proud history of standing up for the people of Wales and standing for peace.”
The planning application is open for public comment at Pembrokeshire County Council’s online planning portal until 20 May. PARC’s one-click objection tool for residents is available at parcagainstdarc.com/call-it-in.
