Latest news with #GarethJones
Powys County Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Powys County Times
Powys Council planning committee chairman re-elected
Powys County Council's planning committee chairman will remain in the hotseat for at least another year. Councillor Gareth D Jones was re-elected at a behind closed doors annual meeting of the Planning, Taxi Licensing and Rights of Way committee on Thursday, May 22. Cllr Adrian Jones was also given the thumbs up and voted in to continue as the committee's vice-chairman. The role of committee chairman comes with a senior salary, which will mean that Cllr Gareth Jones will receive £9,886 on top of the councillor's basic salary of £19,771, Likewise, as vice-chairman Cllr Adrian Jones will receive half a senior salary worth £4,943 on top of the basic. The council was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) why the meeting which was closed to the press or public had not been published online later – as has been the case in the past. A council spokesman said: 'The meeting was held via (Microsoft)Teams. 'It lasted three minutes as no change to the elected positions of chair and vice chair.' Last year Cllr Gareth Jones, who represents Llanfair Caerenion and Llanerfyl, took the chair from previous incumbent Cllr Karl Lewis by just one vote.
Sky News
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Essex set to be the home of Europe's largest low-carbon horticulture site
Forty hectares of greenhouses, heated by the burning of rubbish, are set to be built in Essex - making it the largest low-carbon horticulture site in Europe. These greenhouses will be the first of their kind and could provide around 6% of the tomatoes consumed in the UK. It should begin operating in 2027, when almost all the county's household rubbish will come to the Rivenhall site, where it will then be burnt in an incinerator. Gareth Jones works for waste company Indaver, which is building the facility. He said: "The boiler produces steam and some of that steam we'll divert to our new heat exchange, and that will produce the hot water that we'll be sending over to our greenhouses. "The rest of the steam goes to the turbine, so it produces electricity from the substation, and some of the electricity will go directly to the greenhouses." Currently, Essex's household waste goes to landfill where it gives off greenhouse gasses, particularly methane. Indaver claims that the CO2 emitted at the Rivenhall site is 20% less than if the rubbish had gone to landfill, and there are additional environmental benefits. According to Defra, almost half of the UK's fresh vegetables are imported. Tomatoes often come from Morocco, Spain and the Netherlands. But there is growing concern about the vast number of plastic polytunnels in the south of Spain. Almeria's 'Sea of Greenhouses' are even visible from space, and there are regular droughts in the area. Trucks then bring the produce all the way to the UK, releasing thousands of tonnes of CO2 en route. Rivenhall Greenhouse project director Ed Moorhouse says the UK's reliance on importing fruit and veg is not sustainable. "Water porosity in north Africa and in southern Spain is a key issue, extremes of temperature and the effects of climate change," he said. "What we're seeking to do is, if it was tomatoes, to reshore 6-8% of tomato imports by growing in Essex." But the National Farmers Union says further projects like Rivenhall could be hampered by the government's new biodiversity net gain strategy, which forces all developers to benefit nature through their builds. Martin Emmett, chair of the NFU's Horticulture and Potatoes Board, says the policy was "originally designed around housing estates, larger factories and commercial developments". Consequently, companies may have to buy extra land to offset biodiversity impacts, which would affect similar investments across the country. A Defra spokesperson said: "We are working closely with the sector to make Biodiversity Net Gain work more effectively, whilst investing £5 billion into farming, the largest ever budget for sustainable food production to bolster our food security."
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
House martins in Clumber Park get helping hand after dry spring
Nesting birds in Nottinghamshire have been helped by National Trust rangers as the dry spring weather hampered their ability to make homes for the fledgling martins in Clumber Park near Worksop were among those affected, as the lack of muddy ground meant they had less material to use to build their comes after a spring which the Met Office said was ranking as the UK's driest in over a century earlier this trust said rangers "came to the rescue" by creating areas of saturated soil to allow the birds to "have a successful nesting season". Gareth Jones, countryside manager for Nottinghamshire for the National Trust, said the lack of rain presented an obstacle to house martins, which typically are around Clumber Park between March and October and make their nests on the ground under the eaves of homes and buildings. "During the recent hot spell, water has been in short supply, so the rangers in the estate yard that we work from have been creating artificial pools of mud by filling potholes with water and bringing soil in, to create mud pies for birds to help them build their nests," he said."They need mud, and with climate change and everything like that we need to help them."There's mud still about, but they have to travel longer distances using stored energy, so in the time of using nests it's very energetic for them trying to find mud, so providing little bits of mud here and there just helps shorten the distances to travel."Mr Jones said other animals had also benefited from the rangers' interventions, with stoats, weasels and other mammals as well as birds profiting from extra sources of mud and said members of the public can also assist any animals if they find them in and around their gardens."It's literally just as simple as creating some mud and keeping it there," he said."They may not come straight away, but as they build and maintain a nest through the summer you'll see them coming down to [sources of] mud, just to help repair the nest if it gets damaged."Every little helps."
Powys County Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Powys County Times
Gwynedd Council rejects camping pods bid despite support
A plan to site five glamping pods as part of a Welsh farming family's diversification plan has been turned down despite strong support from some members. Cyngor Gwynedd's planning committee rejected an application to change the use of land and develop a small scale holiday development on an area known as Pandy fields in Corris. The proposal for the permanent pods and associated parking was rejected, in line with the council's planning officer's recommendations. The application had been made by Maisie Sandells, through the agent Dafydd Tomos, of George and Tomos Penserei (Architects). The application had been deferred from the council's Monday, April 28 planning committee meeting for a site visit. The proposal had been part of a diversification project for a 120-hectare livestock business by H.B Sandells and Sons Farm. Council planners said the application was 'not acceptable' as it created a new, permanent alternative camping accommodation within a Special Landscape Area. They said it was also 'likely to have a substantial detrimental impact on the amenities of local property owners in terms of more activities, disturbance and noise'. Public objections had included the impact on the SLA (special landscape area), light and noise pollution, 'attracting the wrong people' to Corris, an excess of tourism and impacts on biodiversity and local property. A resident who lives at a former medieval fulling mill, beside the Dulas river, where she said otters and owls were often seen, told the meeting the area was a place of 'peace and tranquillity'. They had purchased their home in 2016, on a site of special landscape (SLA) 'in the knowledge that it was protected from developments such as this'. She was also concerned it would mean more strangers walking around the home boundary, day and night. Local member Cllr John Pughe Roberts argued people already walked on a public footpath there anyway, and the development would not be seen due to woodland and planting between the house and pods. He also questioned the nature of the SLA, adding that local farmers were 'worried about the lack of development opportunities for the future'. He called for councillors to support the applicants, who were a third-generation, Welsh speaking farming family. Cllr Louise Hughes backed the scheme, saying: 'Farmers are up against it." She noted it was 'a small and discreet' development of only five pods. Her proposal was seconded by Gruff Williams, who said it was now 'necessary for farmers to redirect their efforts and to diversify', while Cllr Gareth Jones called it 'a perfect example of sustainable tourism'. Cllr Berwyn Parry Jones said he could not support the scheme, due to it being in a SLA, an area of outstanding beauty. Planning manager Gareth Jones told the committee they had rejected similar applications, and if the decision was to be approved, it would have to be referred to a 'deliberation period' and brought back again to the committee. A vote to allow the application failed with five votes in favour, no abstentions, and eight against. A second vote, to refuse the application passed with seven votes in favour, no abstentions and six against. This meant the application was rejected. Speaking after the meeting, Cllr John Pughe Roberts said he was 'very disappointed' on behalf of the applicants. They had been hoped that the enterprise could help sustain future generations of the local farming family, he said. 'I am extremely disappointed, and it was Plaid Cymru people that voted this down,' he said. 'More and more young people are leaving Gwynedd in their droves, more than anywhere else due to the need to be able to make a living. Soon there will be no young Welsh speakers left,' he said. 'These are a third generation Welsh speaking farming family, they should have been given a chance to do this."
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Lost mansion revealed as spring sunshine bakes Clumber Park
The remains of a lost mansion in the Nottinghamshire countryside has had its outline revealed by the baking spring the UK experiencing the driest spring in over a century, water usually in the soil has evaporated away to reveal the outline of the stately home which once stood at the heart of Clumber Park, near of the walls of Clumber House, which was taken down in 1938, and its formal garden terrace have started to show at the National Trust trust said the "parch marks" are "giving visitors a window into the rich history of the park". A spokesperson for Clumber Park said: "Clumber House was considered one of the finest non-Royal houses in the country."Built in the late 1760s, the house had over 100 rooms filled with paintings and treasures, as well as particularly impressive gardens." Countryside manager Gareth Jones, who took the aerial images, said last year up to 22 May, 280mm of rain fell on the year, he has recorded just shadows of the past structures were previously revealed during the dry summer of 2018, when a previously unknown sundial was revealed by the imprints in the earth.
