Landmark Low-impact Roundhouse Ordered To Be Demolished
Turf | 28.02.2004 16:45 | Culture | Ecology | Free Spaces
The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority has upheld its decision to insist that the well known eco-roundhouse in the Brithdir Mawr community be demolished. The Park supposedly actively seeks to promote sustainability, which makes the decision even more hypocritical. The Roundhouse actively embodies all of these sustainability principles. At the same time as the National Park has announced £750,000 over three years for its Sustainable Development Fund ‘aimed at promoting innovative, sustainable projects’, while it has also agreed permission for a huge, fundamentally unsustainable holiday park, Bluestone Park, against the recommendation of its officers concerned about the environmental impact. The £45m holiday park will be a 500-acre leisure and sports village, complete with 340 log cabins which will be imported from Estonia. The authority's development control committee again voted in favour of the development, planned for land near Narbeth, against its own officers' recommendation (see reports).
The Roundhouse
The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority has upheld its decision to insist that the eco-roundhouse in the Brithdir Mawr community be demolished. The Park supposedly actively seeks to promote sustainability, which makes the decision even more hypocritical. The Roundhouse actively embodies all of these sustainability principles.
At the same time as the National Park has announced £750,000 over three years for its Sustainable Development Fund ‘aimed at promoting innovative, sustainable projects’, it has also just agreed permission for a huge, fundamentally unsustainable holiday park, Bluestone Park (see below for more info. If you’re looking for the info on the Park’s website, you’ll need to click on the Latest News link).
But no such luck for the roundhouse. Built by Tony Wrench and Jane Faith in 1997, the roundhouse’s existence was discovered in 1999, apparently by a ‘spotter plane’ flying over what the mainstream press dubbed the ‘Lost Tribe’, the Brithdir Mawr community farm. Since then, the local authorities, the Park and planners have been fighting to have the house removed, as it infringes upon planning regulations.
Despite years of battling to save the house, they must now take it down or face the bulldozers (for which they will have to pay costs). There will be a weeklong ‘unbuilding’ camp in April, for those who want to help take down this building with love and respect instead of brute force. There is still an ongoing campaign to support the roundhouse – show your support here too.
The Roundhouse, home to Tony and Jane, is built almost entirely from materials sourced at the farm site. Made from pole-timber coppiced from their own woodland, cob, straw, and recycled windows, it relies on renewable energy in the form of solar-water heating (old radiators), photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, and has a turf roof which provides not only insulation, but a natural habitat for wildlife and for growing fruits. The roof has a fairly traded natural rubber damp-proof membrane from a sustainable source. The whole building is nestled into a hillside and blends in perfectly with its surroundings. Tony and Jane argue that this is not only where they live, but it is an essential part of their livelihoods, as they both make their living from working on the farm, hence their request that the roundhouse be designated by planners as an agricultural worker's cottage.
Ironically, if the roundhouse had been discovered 4 years after it was built (not 18 months) they would have the right to keep it. Tony was not even allowed to present his case to the planning committee. Apparently, only one member of that committee had even visited the site (he abstained from voting for the planning refusal at the time, and now is no longer allowed to vote as he has an ’interest’ in the roundhouse).
Chapter 7, a UK organisation which campaigns to provide access to land for all households through environmentally sound planning, has developed a set of 15 criteria for sustainable rural planning, all of which the roundhouse meets. Read their Winter 2003 news online, which has various articles about the issue, including Catherine Milner’s response to Chapter 7’s article on Tony and Jane’s predicament.
The Bluestone paradox
As reported on the Diggers and Dreamers website
‘The NPA [National Parks Authority] has recently given permission - against the recommendation of its officers and concern about the environmental impact - for the £45m Bluestone holiday park - a 500-acre leisure and sports village, complete with 340 log cabins which will be imported from Estonia. The authority's development control committee again voted in favour of the development, planned for land near Narbeth, against its own officers' recommendation.’
You can read more about the reasons for planning refusal (which were ignored) here.
Some links
For more information on sustainable housing issues and projects see the links below:
That Roundhouse
http://www.thatroundhouse.info/
http://website.lineone.net/~tonywrench/03.htm
Go on – have a go! ‘Building a low impact roundhouse’ by Tony Wrench
(and other permaculture books) – available from:
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/erc/erc2.html
Brithdir Mawr Community website
http://www.brithdirmawr.com/
The Hockerton Housing Project website
http://www.hockerton.demon.co.uk/links/
BedZed – Zero Emission housing development in Beddington
http://www.bedzed.org.uk/
Diggers and Dreamers
http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk
The Land is Ours – Chapter 7
http://www.thelandisours.org/chapter7/whorwe.html
The Centre for Alternative Technology
http://www.cat.org.uk
At the same time as the National Park has announced £750,000 over three years for its Sustainable Development Fund ‘aimed at promoting innovative, sustainable projects’, it has also just agreed permission for a huge, fundamentally unsustainable holiday park, Bluestone Park (see below for more info. If you’re looking for the info on the Park’s website, you’ll need to click on the Latest News link).
But no such luck for the roundhouse. Built by Tony Wrench and Jane Faith in 1997, the roundhouse’s existence was discovered in 1999, apparently by a ‘spotter plane’ flying over what the mainstream press dubbed the ‘Lost Tribe’, the Brithdir Mawr community farm. Since then, the local authorities, the Park and planners have been fighting to have the house removed, as it infringes upon planning regulations.
Despite years of battling to save the house, they must now take it down or face the bulldozers (for which they will have to pay costs). There will be a weeklong ‘unbuilding’ camp in April, for those who want to help take down this building with love and respect instead of brute force. There is still an ongoing campaign to support the roundhouse – show your support here too.
The Roundhouse, home to Tony and Jane, is built almost entirely from materials sourced at the farm site. Made from pole-timber coppiced from their own woodland, cob, straw, and recycled windows, it relies on renewable energy in the form of solar-water heating (old radiators), photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, and has a turf roof which provides not only insulation, but a natural habitat for wildlife and for growing fruits. The roof has a fairly traded natural rubber damp-proof membrane from a sustainable source. The whole building is nestled into a hillside and blends in perfectly with its surroundings. Tony and Jane argue that this is not only where they live, but it is an essential part of their livelihoods, as they both make their living from working on the farm, hence their request that the roundhouse be designated by planners as an agricultural worker's cottage.
Ironically, if the roundhouse had been discovered 4 years after it was built (not 18 months) they would have the right to keep it. Tony was not even allowed to present his case to the planning committee. Apparently, only one member of that committee had even visited the site (he abstained from voting for the planning refusal at the time, and now is no longer allowed to vote as he has an ’interest’ in the roundhouse).
Chapter 7, a UK organisation which campaigns to provide access to land for all households through environmentally sound planning, has developed a set of 15 criteria for sustainable rural planning, all of which the roundhouse meets. Read their Winter 2003 news online, which has various articles about the issue, including Catherine Milner’s response to Chapter 7’s article on Tony and Jane’s predicament.
The Bluestone paradox
As reported on the Diggers and Dreamers website
‘The NPA [National Parks Authority] has recently given permission - against the recommendation of its officers and concern about the environmental impact - for the £45m Bluestone holiday park - a 500-acre leisure and sports village, complete with 340 log cabins which will be imported from Estonia. The authority's development control committee again voted in favour of the development, planned for land near Narbeth, against its own officers' recommendation.’
You can read more about the reasons for planning refusal (which were ignored) here.
Some links
For more information on sustainable housing issues and projects see the links below:
That Roundhouse
http://www.thatroundhouse.info/
http://website.lineone.net/~tonywrench/03.htm
Go on – have a go! ‘Building a low impact roundhouse’ by Tony Wrench
(and other permaculture books) – available from:
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/erc/erc2.html
Brithdir Mawr Community website
http://www.brithdirmawr.com/
The Hockerton Housing Project website
http://www.hockerton.demon.co.uk/links/
BedZed – Zero Emission housing development in Beddington
http://www.bedzed.org.uk/
Diggers and Dreamers
http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk
The Land is Ours – Chapter 7
http://www.thelandisours.org/chapter7/whorwe.html
The Centre for Alternative Technology
http://www.cat.org.uk
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