Newsletter - Autumn 2008
Contents of this edition:
Which Way for Our Countryside?
Planning policies have been protecting the countryside from the full force of market pressures for development since the 1950s. Modest amounts of housing development have been allowed in those villages with a school, shop/post office and a bus service, though not enough to ensure the viability of these services as their running costs and car ownership increase. Beyond these villages there has been a little infilling, some barn conversions and much upsizing of modest homes. The conversion of barns to employment uses is now preferred, in suitable locations, but otherwise rural business development has been much constrained. The countryside has become an increasingly expensive dormitory area for commuters to towns and cities.
The new Local Development Plan (LDP) process and the current easing of developer pressure allow us to reappraise these policies. Current concerns for combating climate change by reducing the need to travel may reinforce the case for concentrating people and their jobs and services in towns with good public transport services. Why put affordable homes in villages where the services are increasingly likely to be uneconomic and therefore withdrawn? There could be exceptions for the few working locally, but not for family and social ties – indeed, the retired would be better-served by moving to town. Of course, it would be important not to cram the towns at the expense of the gardens, playing fields, allotments, etc essential for their sustainability.
Such policies would leave thousands living in the Monmouthshire countryside faced with declining local services and increasingly expensive car running costs (or some form of dial-a-ride service if it can be funded). The value of all but the most attractive properties, still sought by the wealthy, might decline. A new drift to the towns might be expected, and even welcomed.
Is there an alternative apart from the usual compromise of more of the same? Can we devise policies that create sustainable rural communities? Could not a few selected villages, linked to towns by viable transport services, be encouraged to grow, with employment opportunities available and services sustained? Home-working, perhaps in live-and-work developments or linked to rural business hubs, can be highly sustainable. New housing beyond the selected villages would need to be even more strictly controlled. Constraints on business development, even in parts of the open countryside, could be interpreted more liberally and a more enabling attitude adopted. Housing and other developments can now be so much more sympathetic to their surroundings than most were in the last century, so perhaps protectors of the rural environment can accept the need for change in the interests of an economically and socially viable countryside.
A recent County Council report on LDP issues suggests that the planners are well aware of the dilemma. Whatever your viewpoint, be sure to have your say in the coming stages of consultation. Watch our Bulletin Board or the Council’s web site for details.
Where does your recycling go?
In response to new national publicity about recycling, contractors of Monmouthshire County Council are welcoming interest in what happens to what they collect. Monmouthshire Community Recycling (MCR) is providing full information on where materials go to show residents that national press coverage does not reflect what happens locally.
Reporters on the Tonight programme and in national newspapers have recently uncovered a trail of ‘recycling’ which leads from mixed loads in the UK to unregulated dumps in the Far East. Council contractors are accused of sending mixed recyclable material to be picked through abroad in unsafe conditions, often by children, and flytipping much of it.
In Monmouthshire most material collected for recycling goes to the MCR depot in Caldicot – over 4000 tonnes in the last year. It leaves the depot as 16 different commodities, mostly going directly to the reprocessor. MCR provide information on who carries out the recycling and where via its website.
David Roman of MCR explained: “Quite rightly the Welsh Assembly Government and Monmouthshire County Council ask what we, the contractors, do with what we collect for recycling. We don’t recycle any of it ourselves but we make sure it is sorted to the standard it needs to be for sending to manufacturers. The only sorting needed to what we sell on is mechanised and carried out close to home to add value, like magnetic separation of cans in Llanelli. We’re proud of this, it’s a good system well managed and it means we can recycle over 99% of what we collect.
It’s a great shame that some councils are not so lucky, but this is a developing industry and things are happening quickly. I wouldn’t condemn any company, any council, any system without knowing the facts, but I think that’s the point – where there is no information given, people assume the worst. If you do have any questions just get in touch with us directly.”
More information on the service is available at www.monrecycling.co.uk or by ringing 01291 430550.
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Monmouth Green Travel Day
Monmouth Green Travel Day took place on 18th September 2008. A number of local groups came together to organise the day, including Monmouth Partnership Forum's Sustainable Travel Group, Monmouth & District Friends of the Earth, Transition Monmouth, Sustrans volunteers and local cycle hire firm Pedalaway. The day was mainly aimed at adults and children who travel to Monmouth for work or school, and encouraged them to try a car-free way of coming into town for that day. The day was enthusiastically supported by the local bus companies, who offered free travel around Monmouth for the day, or reduced fares for those coming from the surrounding countryside.
23 children and 2 teachers took advantage of the cycle trains, accompanied by Fred Carpenter of Pedalaway, to get to and from school on the day. All of the primary schools took part in Green Travel Day, with special Assemblies on green transport and healthy living, and running competitions in various classes. Kymin View primary school made use of their bike park for the first time. A circular bus route was trialled, and passengers commented that it was useful to be able to travel from outlying suburbs to Monnow Vale hospital without having to change buses, and to be taken directly to the 'top of town' without having to hop on and off connecting services.
Questionnaire surveys were undertaken with bus passengers, and potential passengers to find out how services could be improved, and this has provided very useful information which will be followed up. A frequent question was "Why is there no National Express stop in Monmouth?" Bus timetables were much sought after at the information stall in Monnow Street.
At lunchtime a rally of cyclists was held on Monnow Street, accompanied by a horse drawn hearse, providing a colourful and bell-ringing centrepiece for the day.
On Saturday 20th September a group of 40 cyclists took advantage of the perfect late summer weather to pedal from Monmouth to Symonds Yat East for lunch along the Peregrine cycle path. For many, it was an opportunity to get back on the saddle after many years, and a chance for children to get more confident on their bikes. Many riders took advantage of the free cycle hire offer from Padalaway. Bill Bicker, Sustrans volunteer and ride leader summed it up; "I hope that this will encourage more people to take advantage of the fantastic cycling facilities in the area and to experience our beautiful local countryside whilst keeping fit and having fun. If we have encouraged just one person to use their bike more often, then we have been successful.”
Mayhem at Magor Marsh!
Monmouthshire Forest Education Initiative Cluster group are running two fun days for nurseries on the 22nd and 23rd of October.
The first will take place at Magor Marsh and the second at Goytre Wharf. The small grant fund of £200 from the cluster group will be used to provide transport to both sites for the four different nursery groups involved.
Both days will be based around a teddy bear theme, with a variety of different activities run by Monmouthshire County Council, Gwent Wildlife Trust and the Forestry Commission. It is hoped that if this day is a success we will run similar days in the future.
Brecon Beacons Big Green Challenge
The Big Green Challenge competition is sponsored by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), and was launched in response to its concern that Government policy and investment focuses too heavily on science and technology developing a miracle, fix all solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The competition aims to encourage community-led organisations to slash their carbon emissions and show how local schemes can grow and be replicated across the UK.
Some of the plans submitted by the Green Valleys entry include restoring a network of small hydro-power schemes in the Beacons' streams and rivers, assisting local people to reduce their fuel bills through community-led energy saving initiatives and to develop large scale peat bog restoration work.
The Green Valleys entry has been developed by community volunteers, led by Grenville Ham, and the work will now be carried forward by voluntary groups such as Abergavenny & Crickhowell Friends of the Earth. A series of public meetings will take place across the park highlighting the ways that local people can get involved. Meetings within or close to Monmouthshire are as follows (full list and poster download here):
A high profile judging panel, including Lord Puttnam will decide on the overall winner or winners in November 2009. Over the next 12 months the judges will look carefully at which projects are more successful in radically reducing carbon emissions, both during the year and in the longer term, as well as the projects that most effectively engage local people.
If you want to get involved, or find out more, contact Grenville Ham, Community Development Officer with Brecon Beacons National Park 01874 620451. Back to news index
Woodland Trust - News from Wentwood
Over the last year, more than 1400 children from local schools have visited Wentwood to plant acorns and trees and take part in woodland activities aimed at giving the children a chance to experience a memorable day out in the forest. In addition over 500 children took part in special Discovery Days at Wentwood, where they took part in practical outdoor lessons which involve pupils of all abilities in activities designed to broaden thinking as well as knowledge.
Wentwood, in common with other forests and woodlands in Monmouthshire has also had its fair share of fly tipping and vandalism problems. In September 2008 the Woodland Trust were involved in clearing three separate areas of dumped asbestos waste around Wentwood. Since April, Forestry Commission Wales, in partnership with Gwent Police has funded a Community Support Officer who patrols the woodlands from Chepstow to Wentwood, providing a reassuring uniformed presence and gathering intelligence on flytipping, anti-social behaviour and other criminal activities. The cost of clearing dumped rubbish in Wentwood can be as much as £25,000 a year! If you see anyone fly tipping, or acting suspiciously around dumped rubbish, note their vehicle registration and a description and phone 01600 719281.
Village Alive Trust to give building conservation awards
The Village Alive Trust, a local building preservation trust, is aiming to recognise historic building conservation work carried out by others in Monmouthshire by offering Awards for Building Conservation.
Since 2004 the Trust has secured grant-aid to rescue listed agricultural buildings such as the Cwm Farm Cider House at Llangattock Lingoed. The current project is the restoration of the Grade II* corn barn at Great Tre-rhew Farm, Llanvetherine.
The Trust's vice-president, Edward Holland, who is projects advisor for The Prince's Regeneration Trust, said: "The Trust acknowledges that there is good historic building conservation being carried out across Monmouthshire, and we are delighted to be launching this series of Awards for Building Conservation. We hope it will promote best practice and will encourage those who have worked hard to complete a successful historic buildings project."
The award will relate to specific nominated buildings and is principally intended to commend the owner or person who commissioned the work, but by association will also commend the professionals involved in the project.
The work should be carried out on a building or structure in Monmouthshire between January 1st 2004 and December 31st 2008. The applications will be assessed by a panel that includes professionals in the field of conservation.
The first Village Alive Trust Awards for Building Conservation will be made in June 2009 and each winner will receive a specially commissioned plaque for the award-winning buildings, as well as a certificate for the owner and any professionals involved in the work.
Awards will be given for work that demonstrate exemplar restoration following best practice; rescue of a building on Monmouthshire County Council's register of buildings at risk; exceptional design in alteration or conversion of an historic building or conservation of a specific feature or artefact associated with an historic building.
Application forms can be downloaded from www.villagealivetrust.org.uk and should be sent to Awards Secretary, Old Shop, Skenfrith, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 8UH. The closing date for applications is 31st January 2009. Back to news index
Installation of Information Board at Castle Oak, Usk
The Executive Committee of Usk Civic Society were delighted to contribute £100 for the installation of an information board adjoining the pond at Castle Oak, Usk.
The story is this. A small group of residents had applied for a grant from the Community Pride Grant award scheme of the County Council for the manufacture of a notice about the importance of the pond as a habitat for great crested newts. Having received a grant sufficient for a board to be commissioned and manufactured, they turned to the Society for assistance in the physical installation.
In agreeing to help, it was pointed out that more could be added on the importance of the pond. First, it had been excavated in the 1850s to provide water for the steam trains on the line of the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway that ran less than fifty yards to the south. The last train was on the 30th May 1955. Although the tracks have been removed, the route is still discernible and has been conserved as a footpath and wild life area by the Usk Conservation and Environmental Group.
Secondly, when the excavations were taking place, human bones were found and were thought to be remains from the battle of Pwll Melyn in 1405. Then Owain Glyndwr’s army was defeated by that of the King and, according to Adam of Usk, 300 were captured and then slaughtered in the ditch at Usk Castle.
The brilliantly coloured pictures on the board and accompanying text portray the three reasons why the pond is so important. It is worth the walk to it from the town centre. Go up the Castle drive, through the visitors’ car park and the two wooden gates and then by the newly installed self closing gate on the right hand side of the track, to the footpath into Castle Oak. The pond is on the right hand side as you walk down the hill in the estate.
Usk Civic Society
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Dates for your diary
On Thursday 9th October, Monmouthshire Community Renewables, a new initiative by the team developing a small scale hydro-power project at Tintern is holding a launch and information evening. The new venture will promote the idea of community wind turbines, and assist communities to build these in suitable locations, for community benefit. If you are interested in this idea, please come along, but phone Phil Powell on 01291 629936 (evenings) to let him know you will be coming. A buffet will be provided at a cost of £10 per head. Landowners, interested individuals and members of community groups are invited to attend to find out more about the potential benefits of the scheme, and how it will work. The meeting begins at 7pm at Abbey Mill, Tintern.
On Wednesday 15th October, Abergavenny Operation Noah has arranged a talk by Mark Dowd "Americans and Global Warming - from denial to growing acceptance". Mark Dowd is a well known journalist and TV producer. Operation Noah is a multi-faith partnership established to tackle climate change. The meeting takes place at St Michael's Centre, Pen y Pound, Abergavenny, beginning at 7.30pm.
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