Lammas Project

On 10 April 2010 we went along to the first open day held at the Lammas ecovillage next to the village of Glandwr in the foothills of the Preseli mountains. The ecovillage of 9 small holdings is the first of its kind following the granting of planning permission on appeal under Policy 52 of Joint Unitary Development Plan for Pembrokeshire. Policy 52 provides for ‘LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT MAKING A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION’ in the countryside. The provisions of the policy can be found at in the ‘Development' on Pembrokeshire County Councils web site.

To meet the policy requirements the community has effectively to be ‘off-grid’ with no incoming (or outgoing!) services. Each of the families has had to submit a business plan for their smallholding to demonstrate that a significant proportion of their income will be generated from their land. The business plans for each plot and a huge amount of information on the project can be found on the planning page of the Lammas website.

The progress of the development is being recorded by a series of mini-films produced by undercurrents. The open day was being recorded for part of a new episode and our group was accompanied by the camera woman. We therefore found ourselves as extras in the latest episode and also gave a short piece to camera. The rest of the episodes an be found on the Living In The Future website.

The whole project is incredibly inspiring and we will make regular visits to see how it develops. Two low-impact straw bale houses were in various stages of construction at the time of the visit with the rest of the families who have moved to the site living temporarily in mobile homes.

This may not be everybody’s idea of nirvana, however, if you yearn for a low impact self sufficient lifestyle, it is well worth a visit to this pioneering development.