Pembrokeshire ports, including Milford Haven, are to be denied vital funding to enable them to service the offshore wind industry, according to environmentalists.

The Friends of the Earth claims follow an announcement by energy minister, Charles Hendry, that the £60million funding promised would only be given to English ports.

Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, Gordon James, said it would be a ‘tragedy’ if Pembrokeshire missed out on the opportunity to reap both economic and environmental benefits because the UK Government is excluding Wales from this funding package.

Mr James said: “We wrote to both Stephen Crabb and Simon Hart asking them to use their influence to attract some of this funding to enable ports on the Milford Haven waterway to benefit from the proposed Atlantic Array wind-farm in the Bristol Channel.

“While the Government argues the money should come from the Welsh Assembly’s budget, The Department of Transport document, Modern Ports: A UK Policy, states clearly that ports policy is not devolved to Wales.” However, Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb said: “FoE know very well that support for business and green energy is devolved to the Welsh Assembly.

“The Scottish Government is pressing ahead with a similar policy to that announced in England. If Welsh Assembly Ministers had any strategic foresight then they would be looking at doing the same in Wales.”

Simon Hart, MP for South Pembrokeshire, said port policy does remain under the UK Government, but economic development is a matter for the Welsh Assembly.

“Support for industry, whether renewables such as off-shore windfarms or more conventional factories, is the responsibility of Cardiff and as such I would urge that the Welsh Assembly to get behind this project,” he said.