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(l-r) FUW Meirionnydd county executive officer Huw Jones, FUW vice president Richard Vaughan, Alun Fred Jones AM, who chairs the Environment and Sustainability committee at the Welsh Assembly, FWAG Cymru chairman Tegwyn Jones, operations director at FWAG Cymru Glenda Thomas, FUW Meirionnydd county chairman Euros Puw and FUW director of policy Nick Fenwick.[/caption]
The Meirionnydd branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales organised a farm visit at Castell Hen, Parc near Bala, to discuss renewable energy schemes, Glastir, open access to the country side and a variety of other agricultural policies.
In conjunction with FWAG Cymru, Dolgellau - FUW Meirionnydd county chairman Euros Puw and his wife Haf opened the gates to their farm for visitors to see the land, stock and the hydroelectric scheme which serves the electricity requirements of the farm.
“This was an ideal opportunity for visitors to discuss the latest agricultural policies and see how the family at Castell Hen are pioneers in renewable energy,” said FUW Meirionnydd county executive officer Huw Jones.
“We further discussed how disappointing the sudden changes to the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) process are, and the effects of predicted future cuts on all sectors involved in hydropower.”
Castell Hen is situated at approx. 2 miles from the village of Parc near Bala and the family farm extends to 740 acres, together with grazing rights on nearby common land.
The majority is mountain land with approx. 25 acres kept annually for silage making, 60 acres improved grazing land, and 100 acres of semi improved ‘ffridd’.
High quality stock are kept, which includes 650 Welsh mountain ewes, 240 of which are crossed with Texel rams every year, with the remainder purebred. There is also a herd of 19 Limousin cows. Calves are sold as store between 17-23 months at the livestock market in Dolgellau.
Discussing the current Welsh Government consultation on open access to the countryside, FUW director of policy Dr Nick Fenwick told visitors to the event that: “The FUW supports responsible access to Wales’ countryside and understands the important role access plays in terms of health and wellbeing as well as Wales’ economy.
As a union, he said, we fully support any reduction in the cost and time associated with extinguishing or moving public rights of way, but object to any increase in public access to the countryside.
Wales has approximately 16,200 miles of footpaths, 3100 miles of bridle-paths, and 1200 miles of byways. Since 1998 the area of land accessible by right to the public has increased three-fold, National Trails have been created and extended, and 4,700 miles of rights of way have been opened up under improvement plans.
“Despite this, the proportion of Welsh residents undertaking outdoor recreation frequently has not altered to any extent. The FUW therefore does not believe there is evidence that further liberalising access will achieve the objectives of improving responsible access, health and wellbeing.
“However, such moves will inevitably increase existing problems in terms of irresponsible access, damage to crops and animals, costs for farmers and tenants and the further erosion of the rights of owners, occupiers and other right-holders,” added Dr Fenwick.
Delegates heard Dr Fenwick explain that ordnance survey maps and other sources available free of charge to the general public clearly show open-access areas and rights of way, as do signs on footpaths throughout Wales, yet even when clearly signposted and close to urban areas, such rights are often little used.
He explained that current legislation does not represent any obstacle to encouraging access to those areas where rights already exist, including close to urban areas, and given the extent of Wales’ rights of way and open-access land close to urban areas, there is no evidence to suggest that a change in legislation is necessary to increase the use of existing or new rights of way.
“The suggestion that the Scottish model of access could be applied in Wales without adverse effects does not take into account the fact that Wales’ population density is more than twice that of Scotland, and that the distribution of population and geography of Wales differs significantly to that in Scotland,” he added.
The consultation acknowledges problems caused in Scotland due to dog fouling, dogs not under control, and tension between anglers and canoeists – such problems already exist in Wales and would be exacerbated by implementing the Scottish model in Wales.
“We also believe that any proposals in relation to increased public access should be accompanied by legislation which ensures owners, occupiers and other right holders who have purchased or rented their rights are compensated by the Welsh Government for the impact of any changes, including in relation to the running their businesses,” said Dr Fenwick.
Following a discussion session on renewable energy schemes, Glastir and other agricultural policies with FWAG Cymru chairman Tegwyn Jones and Alun Fred Jones AM, who chairs the Environment and Sustainability committee at the Welsh Assembly, visitors took the opportunity to see the farm and hydro-electric scheme in action.
“There has been a hydro scheme at the farm since 1937 to produce electricity for their own use. The scheme was updated in 2003 and they are also currently in the process of setting up a new separate hydro scheme. It was very interesting to see how the scheme works and I would like to thank the Puw family for hosting this event and Birch Farm Plastics for sponsoring the refreshments on the day. It has been a most informative and enjoyable day,” added Mr Jones.
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The delegation see the hydro-electric scheme water pool.[/caption]
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Inspecting the pump-house are (l-r) FWAG Cymru chairman Tegwyn Jones, FUW director of policy Nick Fenwick, FUW finance and organisation committee member for North Wales Dewi Owen and FUW Meirionnydd county chairman Euros Puw.[/caption]
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The water reservoir for the Hydro-electric scheme.[/caption]