Building works have been put on hold at Lammas since late December when freezing weather conditions hit the site. These have continued on til early january and look set to stay for at least another fortnight. Such conditions have not been experienced in this part of the world for many years.

                                Snow Blizzard                                                 The new trackway on a winters morning

               Plot 1 (with temporary accomodation)                                 Compost toilet in the snow

The Lammas ecovillage project won a £350,000 grant today to build a centre for the research, education and promotion of low-impact development. The building will form a centrepiece to a new-build project of 9 eco-smallholdings in the Preseli Hills in North Pembrokeshire.

The grant is part of a UK government initiative in which 10 community projects from across the UK have been awarded up to £500,000 for pioneering carbon-reduction approaches.

Model of the proposed community hub education centre at Lammas, North Pembrokeshire

The Lammas project promises low-carbon lifestyles, carbon neutral housing and carbon positive livelihoods, with a projected net carbon sequestration rate of approximately 90 tonnes CO2 per year. The residents will source all their water, heating fuel and electricity from the land and will develop land-based micro-enterprises supplying food and craft to the locality.

Paul Wimbush, Lammas project coordinator, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to have won funding for our community education centre. This will enable us to reach out and inspire people to create their own sustainable land-based lifestyles. The 'Community Hub' building will be a launch-pad that will celebrate and promote the new opportunities that are available to create eco-smallholdings in the open countryside. Opportunities that provide self-build homes, create carbon-positive livelihoods and revitalise our rural economy, all in a way that benefits our natural environment.”

The Lammas project benefits from a new planning policy initiative in Pembrokeshire called ‘Policy 52, low-impact development’, under which new eco-smallholdings are permitted in the open countryside if they are able to demonstrate a sincere commitment to sustainability. There are now 12 households in Pembrokeshire benefiting from the policy, the most recent being a small woodland enterprise, Coedwig Blaen Llwydiarth in Maenclochog, in which Jenny Carr and Tony Cutajar were granted temporary permission for a dwelling by a Welsh Assembly Planning Inspector two weeks ago.

There are plans afoot within the Welsh Assembly to expand the Pembrokeshire Planning Initiative to being available across the whole of Wales.

Paul Wimbush continues:  “We have an unprecedented opportunity here to transform rural Wales by simply working within a robust framework in which people can build themselves an eco-smallholding if they are truly committed to sustainability. What is more, it is completely affordable - the average Lammas smallholdings cost approximately £80,000. The potential here is enormous. Wales is committed to becoming a one-planet nation by 2050. The best incentive that you can give people to live a one-planet lifestyle is a self-reliant eco-home in the countryside with a potential livelihood attached.”

The news comes as the first building of the Lammas project is nearing completion; a turf-roofed roundhouse which will provide temporary accommodation for Simon Dale, Jasmine Saville and their two children whilst the family builds the rest of their smallholding. The building took two months, cost under £4000 and attracted over 50 volunteers. It incorporates straw-bale walls and a rammed earth floor.

Lammas residents welcoming the news outside the first Lammas building.

Construction on the Community Hub building will begin in February 2010 and take 12 months to complete. The building will be made largely from locally sourced tree-trunks stacked up in a Canadian log-cabin style and will include a range of innovative features such as a prototype wood-powered cooker. It will incorporate a café and a shop and will sell produce from both Lammas residents and other local people engaged in land-based livelihoods. The Lammas project plans to run its first open day in April 2010.

Nerys Evans, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales said:

"I'm extremely pleased to support the Lammas project. I've visited the site on a couple of occasions and am very impressed with the positive vision they have for the area. We currently face many economic and environmental challenges and the work being carried out by Lammas in tackling these issues at a local level is vital.

We are all living beyond our means, and it's important for us when building a sustainable future to look at what's possible within our own communities and villages.  It's vital therefore that we learn from the Lammas scheme and I look forward to seeing the completed project."

Lammas has just completed an initial report into its carbon impact.

It suggests that the lifestyle carbon impacts of the Lammas residents will be reduced by an estimated 75% as a result of the project (from an average 15.2 tonnes CO2/ year to 3.5 tonnes CO2/ year.

It suggests that the houses will be carbon neutral.

What is most interesting though is the carbon impact as a result of the change in land use. Prior to the project the land (31 hectares) was emitting an estimated 7 tonnes CO2/ year. Within a few years the carbon sequestration levels will be an estimated 120 tonnes CO2/ year.

That is to say that on balance the Lammas project, once established, will be locking an estimated 88 tonnes CO2/ year into the soil and ecosystem biomass.

Click here to read the Lammas Carbon Investigation.

Meanwhile works on the project continue apace with the new entranceway and the first stucture approaching completion:

New entranceway under construction                              First building approaching completion

                Insulating a roof with straw bales                                               Sunset over millpond

Lammas is a grass-roots organisation that has benefited from a huge amount of good-will input from members, friends and supporters. This input has been invaluable in enabling the project to get this far. A big thanks to all of you who have been involved in the project to date.

If you would like to get involved there are a few options:

• You can volunteer your time and skills to help the project.
• For just £25 you can become a life-long friend of Lammas.
• For £50 you can become a member and shareholder of the organisation.

Thankyou.

Two months on from planning we are getting stuck in to building works at Lammas

Lammas sign                           Lammas yurt with trackway construction behind

Leander and diggerman John talking          Lewis laying a foundation stone

                          Constructing the first roundhouse

Two months on from planning permission and four of the families are now living on site, with the other 5 families rounding up their affairs and getting ready to move. The trackways and water networks are under construction and some of the families have begun building. The autumn weather has been kind to us so far and whilst the weather turns colder, activity on the land is beginning to warm up.

The latest episode on Lammas is now available:

Click here to watch the latest mini film of Lammas

Lammas won planning permission today

A big thankyou to all of you who have supported us in setting this groundbreaking precedent.

The Lammas planning saga is approaching an end...

A hearing was held on 28th July at Preseli School in Crymych, Pembrokeshire.

                Planning Inspector, Andrew Poulter     Expert witnesses Rupert Hawley, Andy Goldring, Simon Fairlie

                                    The Audience                                                Paul Wimbush, representing Lammas

Approximately 150-200 people attended, and a wide range of issues were explored.

The Planning Inspector will make his final decision by 27th August.

Lammas holds monthly meetings and we welcome people interested in supporting both the ecovillage project and the wider vision of Lammas (as an umbrella organisation promoting low-impact development) to come and contribute to the meetings.

The next meeting will be held at 10am on 10th February 2010 at Tir y gafel, Glandwr. It will be held at 'Jane's caravan'.

If you are thinking of coming we would encourage you to let us know beforehand in case of any last-minute changes; please contact Simon on 07773 372280.

Lammas meeting, spring 2009