Save Our Common Mountain Environment

Mynydd y Gwair [The Hay Mountain] lies about 8 miles north of Swansea, sometimes referred to as the  “Mountains of the Mawr area.”  Sited between Swansea and Ammanford.  It consists of a vast area of beautiful open unenclosed upland pasture with significant grazing rights for local farmers and an oasis to wildlife of every form.

 The land is designated as “Common Land” and the farmers and graziers as “Commoners”. The land however is owned by, the Duke of Beaufort of Badminton House, Gloucestershire.

 The farmers and graziers depend on the common for grazing all year round with every flock of sheep and herd of cattle using their own unique area of grazing known as “SheepWalk” or “Arosfa” in Welsh. These are “Hefted” flocks and herds and their origins go back centuries. The rights to graze are historical, dating back to the “Statute Of Merton” of 1235 where the “Lord of the manor” was obliged to provide land for commoners’ rights.

The proposal to site a “Wind Power Station” in this area would be devastating not only during construction, but forever! Hefted flocks and cattle would be displaced from their historic areas thus causing a “Domino Effect” on the other animals by pushing them off their areas.

This would lead to overcrowding in the southern areas of the common, which would cause overgrazing and would affect the growth and welfare of the animals. This in turn would effect the economics of animal rearing and seriously effect the livelihoods of all those who depend on the common. 

The construction of the wind power station would necessitate miles of hardcore roads to assist during the construction and for the day-to-day maintenance of the turbines.
These roads would forever scar the common and even after they had gone the original vegetation would never recover and good mixed grass grazing would be replaced with “rushes” with no value to animals at all.