Lammas Ecovillage (Welsh: ''Tir-y-Gafel'') is a low-impact,

off-grid Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical gr ...

ecovillage An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural en ...

in Glandwr, near

Crymych Crymych () is a village of around 800 inhabitants and a community (population 1,739) in the northeast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated approximately above sea level at the eastern end of the Preseli Mountains, on the old Tenby to Cardig ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park ...

, West

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, comprising nine households and a community hub on a site. Buildings are constructed of natural materials and energy obtained from renewable sources. Planning permission took some years to obtain, but has established a replicable template for similar future developments in Wales.

Development

The project was the first ecovillage in the UK to attain prospective planning permission, and this was achieved in 2009 after a three-year planning campaign culminating in a public hearing. The project had applied under an innovative local planning policy designed to support low-impact development. The policy required residents to live a sustainable lifestyle and substantially support themselves from land-based livelihood.

Concept

The ecovillage is centered on a Community Hub, from which courses, conferences and open days are run. It was constructed using local timber, straw bale insulation and locally sourced aggregate as well as incorporating various green technologies (such as a masonry stove,

passive solar heating In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

and a wood-fired kitchen). Funding for the Community Hub came from the

Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busi ...

. The project has been designed as a replicable template - with each household purchasing a 1000-year agricultural lease from the organisation which provides them with autonomy and security. Each household has access to approximately of land from which they derive food, fuel and income. One resident utilises

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

techniques for managing the land, and electricity is generated by solar panels and a micro hydro turbine. The nine

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

s demonstrate a range of natural building techniques though there have been challenges over compliance with building regulations which led to some of the residents being taken to court by

Pembrokeshire County Council Pembrokeshire County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Penfro) is the governing body for Pembrokeshire, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. Political control The first election to the council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authorit ...

. These issues have since been resolved. The site is listed by

RCAHMW The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; cy, Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectur ...

and featured on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...

's ''

Grand Designs ''Grand Designs'' is a British television series produced by Boundless and broadcast on Channel 4 which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects. The programme has been presented by Kevin McCloud since it firs ...

'', Series 17, Episode 6 in 2016.

Post-establishment

Since Lammas, the

Welsh Government , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

introduced a national low-impact policy, "One Planet Development", which creates a framework for land-based smallholdings and ecovillage projects to be established in Wales. One house, built at a cost of £27,000 over several years, was destroyed by fire in January 2018, with a total re-build estimate of £500,000. The house was not insured as construction had not been completed.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Sustainable buildings in the United Kingdom Sustainability in the United Kingdom Villages in Pembrokeshire Ecovillages

Development

Concept

Post-establishment

See also

References

Further reading

External links