The Eco Village
 
       
   

News and Events

 

6 January 2010: Snow Blizzards hit Wales

  

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 winter morning

                                Snow Blizzard                                                 The new trackway on a winters morning

plot 1 compost toilet in the snow

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

 

 

December 21st Lammas wins funding for community hub

  

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.

 

community hub model

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

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."

  

November 26th - Carbon Investigation

      

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   first building at Lammas

New entranceway under construction                              First building approaching completion

   insulating a roof with straw bales     sunset

                Insulating a roof with straw bales                                               Sunset over millpond

 

  

 Supporting the project

  

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:

Thankyou.

 

    

 October 27th - Two months on
 

 

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

 

lammas sign     lammas yurt and dumper

Lammas sign                           Lammas yurt with trackway construction behind

leander and john       laying a foundation stone          

Leander and diggerman John talking          Lewis laying a foundation stone

the first lammas roof     roundhous roof under construction

                          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.

 

   

    

 Latest mini film
 

 

The latest episode on Lammas is now available:

undercurrents filming

Click here to watch the latest mini film of Lammas

 

      

 August 27th 2009  Lammas wins planning
 

 

hooray!

Lammas won planning permission today

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

 

 July 29th 2009 - Lammas Hearing news
 

 

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

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

audience   paul wimbush

                                    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.

      

 
Spring 2009 - Beginning work on the land
 

  

Having bought the land, Lammas residents and volunteers have begun agricultural works there planting trees, repairing tracks and fixing the fencing. Prior to purchase, the land had been continuously grazed for 25 years.

  

planting trees and bushes simon on the mini digger Hoppi working the land

kit on the dumper willow plantation paul with a new standing stone

   

   

February 18th 2009 - Lammas' planning Appeal lodged with

the Welsh Assembly

 

   

Dissatisfied with how long Pembrokeshire County Council were taking to assess the application, Lammas have now lodged a planning appeal with the Welsh Assembly Government.

Meanwhile we have proceded to purchase the land to enable us to begin agricultural works in preparation for the ecovillage development.

   
   
 
     

21st November 2008 - Third Time Lucky

 
     

 

 
     

Third time lucky

The Lammas group today submitted their third application for a low-impact hamlet of smallholdings in Pembrokeshire.

Project coordinator Paul Wimbush said today; “We are simply determined to succeed. It has now been over 700 days since we submitted our plans to Pembrokeshire County Council and will do whatever it takes to get this project up and running. Unfortunately the Council have been very obstructive to date but we are optimistic that this may change. They have created a new low-impact policy that allows new-build eco-smallholdings, now they just need to let people use it.”

Pembrokeshire County Council adopted a low-impact policy (Policy 52) in July 2006. To date no applications have been passed under it.

In March 2008 Lammas submitted an application for 9 eco-smallholdings and community hall near to the village of Glandwr, North Pembrokeshire. In September the group were refused planning permission and had then tried to appeal to the Welsh Assembly.

However, due to a technical oversight on the part of Pembrokeshire County Council, the application was registered without an “access statement” and the Planning Inspectorate ruled that the group could not appeal because without this statement, the application was not valid.

In an attempt to resolve the situation the group had written an open letter to Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing, asking her to intervene. However she was unable to intervene due to the same technicality which effectively rendered the application invalid.

“Its ridiculous that innovative projects like this face such bureaucratic hurdles. It would have been easier to apply for a power station” said local business woman Cassandra Lishman, one of the project directors, “We have spent two years in the planning system and have not yet had a fair hearing. This is a brilliant project that deserves a chance.”

The new application is more than 1,500 pages long and includes reports from the Soil Association, WWF and leading experts in permaculture.

Project Coordinator Paul Wimbush goes on:

“This application is really important for Pembrokeshire and the fact that last time we received over 850 letters of support demonstrates that. We are facing a global sustainability emergency and business as usual is not an option. We need innovative research projects like this so that we can work out how to create a green society.”

Click here to view the new application for yourselves.

 
     

  

 
         
         
      Lammas told to "start again". October 21st 2008  
     

 

In a shocking revelation the Lammas project, which is applying to build a hamlet of nine eco-smallholdings in Pembrokeshire, has been told it must begin its planning process again. After 18 months in the planning system, the Planning Inspectorate for Wales has ruled that they cannot consider Lammas’ appeal because the planning application is technically invalid due to an omission on the part of Pembrokeshire County Council.

planning application

The lammas planning application has been deemed invalid

after a technical blunder by Pembrokeshire County Council

 

Pembrokeshire County Council had advised Lammas that they would not need an “Access Statement”, which details how the site will be accessible for both disabled and able bodied people. However they are in fact duty bound to ensure that all planning applications are submitted with this statement. For an application not to be accompanied by an access statement makes it technically invalid.

Discussions with Pembrokeshire County Council about the situation have been fruitless, and Lammas have been advised that the only option open to them is to begin the planning process again.

Paul Wimbush, Lammas coordinator, said of the situation.

"This amounts to negligence on the part of the planning authority and is totally unacceptable. We have bent over backwards to work within the planning system and time and time again have been obstructed by the planners. If sustainable development is the overarching objective of the planning system as is often claimed, then Pembrokeshire County Council need to be asked some serious questions”.

  

   

 
       Lammas launches Appeal. October 2008  
     

    

Lammas have launched their planning appeal to the Welsh Assembly

lammas will appeal

Lammas are looking forward to having their case heard by an independent body. They have enlisted support from high calibre professionals to support their case and feel that they are in a very strong position to win their case on appeal.

The appeal documents will shortly be made available on this website for all to read.

 

 
     

Planning refusal, September 9th 2008

 
         
     

      

Red tape halts pioneer ecovillage

“Stop fiddling with red tape while Rome burns and help us build a green future” Eco-village Pioneers urge planners!

red tape

Wales’ greenest planning application has been refused today by Pembrokeshire County Council. The proposal, near the village of Glandwr, North Pembrokeshire features 9 eco-smallholdings, a community centre and mini-bus service open to the public.

The exemplary scheme received over 850 letters of support and has been praised by experts from around the world. The Design Commission for Wales undertook an independent review of the plans in April and concluded they were ‘inspirational’ and a ‘benchmark for environmental rural regeneration’.

The Design Commission praised the use of locally sourced materials which give a strong Welsh character to highly affordable homes. With average house prices at over £170 000, Lammas’ plans offer 9 homes, complete with 8 acres of land for £80 000 each.

However, the planner’s report ignores the Design Commission and other experts who have endorsed the scheme.

Paul Wimbush, project coordinator, is disappointed in the planners report.”The report contradicts itself over and over again, is misleading and wholly misrepresents our application. I am sad to say that I am not surprised, having experienced unjustified delays, lost files, and a general level of attention that leads me to believe that Pembrokeshire planners do not have the resources or skills necessary to be processing such applications. The planners assured us that our application would be assessed on permaculture principles. On receiving the report, we have found that the entire application has been assessed on standard agricultural criterea and has thus been recommended for refusal. The whole point of the new policy 52 is about creating a lifestyle from the land rather than focusing only on profit. This difference between permaculture and agriculture is crucial.”

Policy 52, Low-Impact Development was introduced in Pembrokeshire’s Joint Unitary Development Plan in July 2006 and makes provision for new eco-smallholdings in the open countryside on the basis that they will make a positive environmental, social and economic contribution. There have been 3 applications to date, none of which has been passed. The low-impact movement however is gaining momentum. The Welsh Assembly is currently compiling national guidance on low-impact development which will encourage other counties across Wales to adopt low-impact policies similar to Pembrokeshires low-impact policy.

“Our plans include generating electricity from a water turbine, growing willow and elephant grass for fuel and building houses from local natural materials. Our application, as far as I know, is the only application for new-build carbon neutral housing in the whole of Wales at the moment. Meanwhile, the Welsh Assembly recently made a commitment that all new housing will be carbon neutral by 2012 as a step toward addressing climate change!”

‘We have just wasted an opportunity to place Pembrokeshire at the forefront of sustainability’ says Dave Owen, a Lammas organiser whose family has lived in Pembrokeshire for five generations. ‘In an area struggling to keep its young people our scheme would mean that 76 acres that currently generate £2,500/year would be able to generate £100, 000/year – that’s a lot more work and money in the local economy!’

Business plans include cultivating compost worms, growing linen to make flax shawls as well as more traditional fruit and vegetable cultivation.

Dr Larch Maxey, a Lammas organiser added ‘The planner’s report shows that there is a gulf as big as an ice berg between policy and practice. Science shows we have 100 months to stop climate chaos. Our planning system needs to wake up and help us meet humanity’s biggest challenge.’

The Lammas team are encouraging people to assess the situation for themselves. Their whole application, along with Pembrokeshire County Council’s report can be seen online at the Lammas website.

Lammas plans to take their application to a Welsh Assembly appeal.

 

 
      Letters of support, September 2008  
     

    

Thankyou to all those who wrote in support of the project. The Lammas planning application received over 850 letters of support!

Of those letters, 175 were from Wales and 102 were from Pembrokeshire. The letters came from all over the world. They included letters from farmers, architects, community councillors, builders, academics, businesses, students, media companies, elected politicians, environmental scientists, crofters and even a planning officer.

Citizens of the following nations wrote to Pembrokeshire County Council supporting the project:

 UK

 Canada

United States of America

Spain

 Germany

 South Africa

Poland

Australia

Mexico

France

Denmark

Sweden

Republic of Ireland

Croatia

New Zealand

 Portugal

 Bulgaria

 Slovenia

 Israel

 Hong Kong

Greece

 Italy

 Belgium

Hawaii

 India

 Peru

 Norway

 Swizerland

 Finland

 Ukraine

 Thailand

 Bolivia 

 
         
     

 

   

 
      Welsh low-impact policy guidance, August 2008  
     

   

The Welsh Assembly are compiling national guidelines on low-impact development.

The consultation period is now over. We are optimistic that we will shortly be seeing the emergence of Welsh low-impact policy guidance.

Thankyou to all those who participated in the consultation.

     

 
   

 

 
     

Design Commission for Wales, April 2008

 
     

  

Lammas took its proposal to a Welsh Assembly appointed commission recently to get their assessment of the project. Our Planning Officer (David Popplewell) also attended. The design review panel were all very supportive of the project. The lead panelist described it as the most inspirational project he has ever seen in his time with the design commission. Their comments will be taken into consideration by the planners. 

 

 
         
 

 

Lammas in the news

       

 
      Latest news articles  
     

     

21st December 2009.

To read an article in the Western Mail about Lammas winning funding for its community hub building, click here

November 2009.

To read an article from Permaculture Magazine about Lammas (Winter 2009 edition), click here

27th August 2009.

To view an article from BBC Online News, about Lammas' planning success click here

1st August 2009.

To read an article from the local paper (The Western Telegraph) about Lammas' planning hearing, click here

26th November 2008.

To read an article in the local paper (The Western Telegraph) about Lammas' third submission, click here

To read an article from Permaculture Magazine about Lammas and low-impact development (winter 2008), click here

29th October 2008.

To read an article in the local paper (The Western Telegraph) about Lammas being refused the right to appeal, and Pembrokeshire County Councils response to this blunder (which is in itself shocking), click here

To view an article in The Guardian (25th September 2008) which covers Tony Wrench's recent roundhouse planning victory and Lammas' recent refusal, click here

To view an article from BBC Online News (9 September 2008), click here

This is about the planning application refusal

To see an article in Japan for a magazine called Eco-City (summer 2008), click here

To read the latest article from The Western Mail (17 May 2008), click here

To read a news article from The Western Mail (17 March 2008),

click here

To read an article from Planning Magazine (14th March 2008), click here

To read the latest news article from BBC Online News (11 March 2008), click here

This newspiece describes the projects planning application resubmission to Pembrokeshire County Council

To read the latest article from the Western Telegraph (11 March), click here

To read an article on policy 52 from The Land (spring 2008), click here

An excellent article from a groundbreaking magazine which looks at Pembrokeshire's new low-impact policy and the three applications which have been made under it to date (including Lammas)

    

To read an article from the Western Telegraph, (December 2007), click here

An article inviting people to apply for a plot which recently became available

To read an article from Green World Magazine, (November 2007), click here

An article from The Green Party magazine about the Lammas project

To read an article from the Tivy Side Advertiser, (October 16th 2007), click here

This piece is about Lammas' plans to resubmit their planning application

To read an article from the Western Telegraph, (October 9th 2007), click here

To read an article from The Tivy-Side Advertiser (October 9th), click here

To read an article from BBC Online news (October 9th), click here

These 3 news pieces are about the refusal for planning permission

  

 
      Welsh Language Article  
     

  

Am cyfle i weld erthigl ar Lamas yn "y Papur Gwyrdd" (Chwefror '08), clicwch yma

(To view a welsh-language article on Lammas, click above)

 
      Media Archive  
     

   

To read an article in Self Build and Design (October 2007) click here

To read an article from the Guardian (July 26th), click here

To read an article from BBC Online news (June 1st), click here

To read an article from the Western Telegraph (June 1st), click here

 

 

 
         
     

Recent Events Archive

  

   

 
     

 

 
        Site Model complete, April 2008  
   

   

 

    site model  site model

A 1:1000 model of the whole project has been made by prospective resident Kit  Owen. It took 3 months to complete and is largely made from recycled and reclaimed materials. There are more pictures of it in the Gallery.

 

 
      Resubmission, March 2008  
     

   

After 5 months of work the Lammas team resubmitted their planning application to Pembrokeshire County Council on March 11th 2008, optimistic that this time the application will be recommended for approval.

resubmission

The entire application is available on this website for people to browse through:

Click here to browse the planning application.

   

 

 
      Planning Application, October 9th 2007  
     

   

Ecovillage Plans refused

The Lammas low-impact settlement application was presented to the Planning Committee of Pembrokeshire County Council today (October 9th) at County Hall in Haverfordwest. The application was refused.

The planning officer agreed that the project would make a social, environmental and economic contribution. He also considered that the project would blend into the landscape and have no adverse visual impact.

However it was made clear that the planners would like to see a more detailed travel/ traffic plan and further work done on the individual business plans for the 9 plots, before considering the application further.

Thus we intend to resubmitting a revised application that will address all the concerns and shortcomings raised by the planning officer.

 

 
     

Lammas submits planning application, 1st June 2007

 
     

  

lammas with application

Delivering the Application

After 2 years of work, Lammas submitted its planning application to Pembrokeshire County Council on June 1st. The application is for a low impact settlement at Pont y gafel farm in North Pembrokeshire. "The application is exemplary, it is an achievement in itself " said Paul Wimbush, coordinator of the project.

 
   

  

 
     Ecovillage Pioneers film  
   

     

A 50 minute documentary on Lammas and the ecovillage movement in the UK was issued as a free dvd with the autumn 2007 issue of Permaculture magazine (august). The film charts the stories of Paul Wimbush (Lammas) and Helen Iles (Undercurrents) in their quest to find an ecovillage to call home, and includes Findhorn (Scotland), the Village (Ireland), Tinkers Bubble (England) and the Centre for Alternative Technology (Wales) to name but a few.

 

click here to watch clips from or buy "Ecovillage Pioneers",

a 50 minute film about Lammas and the ecovillage movement,

 

 
       
   

 

 
 

 

   Next Lammas Meeting
 

  

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

Lammas meeting, spring 2009

 

 

 
   

     
     
     
     
     
     
 
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