Pembrokeshire Eco Village Aims to Inspire

A new residential and agricultural eco village planned for rural Pembrokeshire has been praised highly as a benchmark for environmental rural regeneration by the Design Commission for Wales.

The proposal, by Lammas Low Impact Initiatives Ltd, is for a new settlement of 9 eco-smallholdings, a campsite and a community hub building sited on 76 acres of mixed pasture and woodland next to the village of Glandwr, north Pembrokeshire. Using locally sourced materials and distinct building materials will make the project specifically Welsh, and conscious of affordable housing in the area, the self built houses are estimated to cost £60,000per house.

The planned designs which came before the Commission’s Design Review Panel in April, were welcomed for the most part by Panel members and commended in particular for their emphasis on low impact development.

Cindy Harris, Head of Design Review, Design Commission for Wales, said, “We found that the project was inspirational and we commended the committment and enthusiasm of the group as a whole. The scheme has the potential to become an exemplar of low impact development and whilst we would not wish to see it set a precedent for new development on greenfield sites in the countryside, Pembrokeshire’s rural exceptions planning policy allows low impact development of this sort under strict conditions, and this scheme is the first to come forward under this policy.”