A joint effort by Grwp Resilience, West Wales Climate Coalition, and Pembrokeshire County Council seeks to transform an under-used 8-acre parcel of former landfill land into a hub for renewable energy, community amenities, and nature. Members of the local community were invited to bring ideas, needs and dreams to an event on the land, on 14th August 2023.
Meads Dreams family fun day was a chance to enjoy the land and share ideas – despite the bad weather. Discussions covered social housing challenges (thanks to ATEB), and Steve Keating, the sustainability and energy manager in the council, talked about renewables powering the leisure centre. Bronwen, a landscape architect, gathered ideas and spoke to local people about what they felt was important to include on the map.
There were stalls, games and animals, with taster sessions of ancient Qigong, healing and head massage. Children had crafts and animals to cuddle. Many people came to see what was going on and share their thoughts. There was strong local sentiment about the importance of the land for the community, for recreation and dog walking and a space for children to play safely. Many felt the land could be improved with benches, footpaths, and activities for children and families.
The reason for the day was to enable those who live around the area and use the land, and others, to get involved in helping to plan its future. This was a step into sharing the power.
Community Questionnaire
As well as attending the Festival on the land on 14th August, you can also share your ideas, needs and dreams by completing this questionnaire online.
https://bit.ly/meads-project-questionnaire
The Local Press reports the news:
end of Herald newspaper article
Milford Haven has a heady history. As a rare deep sea port cutting into the land, it has been a UK hub of trade, military hardware, fishing – in living memory people could walk from ship to ship over the estuary and all heaped with fish, now they are gone, fish and boats, and finally it became an oil and gas hub which it is today. But the dawn is breaking on an offshore renewables future. Beside the oil industry, the town of 14000+ is suffering from deprivation and all the problems that brings.
The engineers society run a miniature railway on the Meads fields. They lament the problems they face, the vandalism. The shed for their equipment was burnt to the ground in recent years. Perhaps the power of land to heal will come to the rescue.
