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Welcome to Llandeilo, the first Transition Town in Wales. We are part of a network of communities across the UK and Ireland responding locally to the challenges presented by Climate Change and Peak Oil. We are looking at how we can reduce our carbon footprint and increase our resilience to the shocks that Peak Oil will bring.

As individuals, it's all too easy to feel helpless in the face of global problems, and on our own in truth we can't have much impact on them. We may wish the government did more, but watch as all too little gets done by politicians scared of unpopularity.

By working with others locally, we can support each other, empower ourselves and get things done. We can seek local solutions. We can experiment and try out new sustainable approaches...local food, local energy, local industry. We won't always know the answers but we can have fun looking for them.

We started the process of becoming a Transition Town in Spring 2007, and we have active groups focusing on:

• Allotments
• Permaculture
• New Economics
• Water, waste and resources
• Afallon Teilo - the Apple project
• 'Heart and Soul' - the psychology of Energy Descent
• Diwylliant a Iaith - culture and language
• Skills and Technology

We have also held a number of events related to Alternative Energy and Food, as well as showing films related to Climate Change and Peak Oil. We have active links to a wider movement in Wales and the UK.

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AGM - Transition in the 2010s

Energy - Food - Transport

As we move into the second decade of the 21st century, we will look ahead and debate what we should be doing in the face of the challenges ahead.

We shall consider in particular the areas of energy, food, and transport, and also how we can promote Transition around the Tywi valley as well as in Llandeilo.

Monday November 30th, upstairs at The Angel, 7.30 pm

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Llandeilo Northern Residential Quarter Planning and Development Brief

Here is our response:

Dated : 03 November 2009

Members of the Transition Town Llandeilo project were surprised to find a reference to our group in this document, and to discover that the 'development framework can contribute to the delivery of this' (i.e. our) 'initiative' (p.25). Our opinion has not been actively sought, and we do not want the mention of our name and aims to imply our approval of this proposal. Indeed, in our opinion it falls far short of what is needed for a large-scale residential development in the second decade of the twenty-first century, especially as it claims to be responding to recent legislation regarding sustainable building and zero-carbon homes.

The housing layout needs to be very different from what is shown. Attempting to replicate an existing settlement pattern is not conducive to energy-efficient design in terms of orientation, avoidance of overshadowing or maximising solar gain. Policy GDC2 in appendix 1 refers to development proposals needing to ensure that buildings will be designed so as to ensure "maximum use is made of natural daylight and solar energy". The illustrations in the brief do not reflect this policy. Furthermore, siting the development on a north-facing slope makes it difficult to benefit from passive solar gain or other solar technologies.

Choosing an alternative site might also reduce the cost of development. On this high-value piece of land, "affordable" homes will almost certainly be built to minimum standards, and the rest of the houses are likely to be bought by well-paid professionals or affluent retirees. Thus the scheme as currently proposed is unlikely to benefit those on average local incomes, who will continue to find it difficult to meet their housing needs. Most new residents are unlikely to be working in the Llandeilo area; instead, many will be commuting each day to Carmarthen, Swansea or Cardiff. Although regulations relating to zero-carbon homes currently fail to consider the likely carbon footprint of their occupants, we think that encouraging long-distance commuting in this way is against the spirit of such regulations, if not the letter.

From the perspective drawings included in the brief it would appear that the authors are more concerned with matching the aesthetic of the adjoining development at Llys Pencrug than with giving serious consideration to the implications of the Code for Sustainable Homes, already adopted by WAG, and their directive for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2011. With this 2011 deadline looming, we believe that the opportunity should be seized to make this a genuine model for the future by incorporating: a biomass district heating system; solar thermal and photovoltaic panels; green water treatment with rainwater harvesting and reeds or biomass beds; and, ideally, prototype use of "local passive house" construction (i.e., passive house technology with 80% of materials being locally sourced - clay, straw, timber, wool, hemp, etc.). Covered ventilated spaces, which could be communal, should be provided to allow outdoor laundry drying and so avoid the use of tumble dryers. Each home should be designed with appropriately sized racks and linen cupboards for airing laundry. Heat-recovery ventilation systems should be fitted in all properties. Provision should be made for a greener approach to personal transport by allowing for a car pool scheme within the design and having charging points for electric vehicles.

The growing demand for food production within towns, and semi-self-sufficiency, should be met through setting land aside for allotments within easy walking distance of all properties. Given that demand for allotments is increasing steadily, it would be prudent to plan for future expansion and to make plots available to existing residents of Llandeilo. The Cymdeithas y Dalar allotments scheme on nearby National Trust land has proved so popular that there is still a waiting list for plots. In addition to the play space mentioned in the brief, some of the green space provided within the development should be allocated as a community garden, with nut and fruit trees planted in addition to the indigenous species mentioned. Many of these measures will help to build and maintain community spirit and benefit residents' health.

The overall design indicated in the brief does not, in our opinion, meet the authors' stated aim of reflecting the grain of the old town, nor does it demonstrate current best practice in urban "green" housing. The linked circuit road layout is not conducive to "homes zone" safety, low speeds, safe routes to school, shared surfaces, or walking and cycling links to the local shops and station. The brief lists a number of well-known traffic-calming measures but the layout works against them. A genuinely carbon-neutral layout would be radically different.

We welcome the authors' expressed desire to demonstrate "uplift" in environmental standard (p. 25). However, we doubt that the scheme outlined in this document represents a realistic approach to the sustainable and incremental growth of Llandeilo (p. 10) or demonstrates real engagement with the very great environmental, economic and social challenges of our time.

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Royal Visit

The Transition Town Llandeilo project was delighted to receive a visit from HRH The Prince of Wales at the Civic Hall on October 23rd.

The Prince was introduced to Katka from Cymdeithas y Dalar, the allotments project on National Trust land at Dinefwr Home Farm, and saw their exhibition of photographs from the last year. He was shown how a considerable amount had been achieved in just one growing season, and was told of future plans. He also met Tony Graf, representing the group which saved the Dryslwyn post office from closure by turning it into a community shop. It was explained that in its new incarnation the shop continues to provide a vital local service on a not-for-profit basis, and that the shop is stocking Fferm Tyllwydd organic Welsh Black beef. The Prince is president of the Welsh Black Cattle Society.

Other members of the Llandeilo Transition project who talked to the Prince include Sue Weaver who was there to promote "Carbon Conversations", a 10-week evening course to help participants reduce their carbon footprint. The course is being run in conjunction with Carmarthenshire County Council’s Community Education programme which has also just launched Llandeilo’s first full Permaculture design course. Looby Macnamara, one of the course tutors, presented the Prince with a locally-grown grafted walnut tree from Manse Organics.

The Prince meets Looby, Steve, Sue and Tony

Many Transition towns have been planting fruit and nut trees. This is a great way of reducing our reliance on imported food. Walnuts contain the same amount of protein per gramme as chicken, and walnut timber is dense and fine-grained. Grafted walnuts bear fruit earlier than trees bred from seed - in just 5 - 7 years - and produce a timber crop sooner. The walnut has almost become a symbol of Transition in the UK. In Totnes, Britain’s first Transition Town, walnuts have been planted in many public spaces.

Looby presents the walnut tree to the Prince (photos : Jess Jones)

The Prince met members of Transition Cwm Gwendraeth too, and they also emphasised the importance of local food. Other groups who presented their work to the Prince included Calon Cymru, a group which proposes creating a sustainable corridor through Powys and Carmarthenshire following the Heart of Wales train line. The Heart of Wales Line Travellers’ Association were also there to emphasise the importance of the railway to the area and the need for improvements to the service.

During his walkabout in Llandeilo the Prince visited Pinc who are selling organic fruit and vegetables, many of them sourced locally and Heavenly, whose delicious ice cream uses local ingredients wherever possible and Welsh organic milk and cream. In Julian Cooper’s butchers shop he was presented with a string of freshly made sausages and saw the variety of locally-produced meat that is available.

The Prince’s visit is timely. We are just a few weeks away from the crucial UN Copenhagen conference on climate change. A Met Office study published at the end of September challenges the assumption that severe warming will be a threat only for future generations, and warns that a catastrophic 4C rise in temperature could happen by 2060, unless there is strong action to reduce emissions. Then in October, a report by the UK Energy Research Council (UKERC) said worldwide production of conventionally extracted oil could go into terminal decline before 2020 - but that the government was not facing up to the risk. (And in fact many experts suggest that the peak could be much sooner than 2020.)

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Forthcoming Group Meetings