Environment Wales and Cwm Harry Land Trust
By Richard Northridge Cwm Harry land Trust
Cwm Harry Land Trust (CHLT)was founded in 1998 by three trustees, one of whom was Richard Lewis, a former Environment Wales development officer. It was entirely dependent on unemployed volunteers with plenty of time and no money. It had access to land provided by a generous supporter. It started collecting green garden waste in Newtown in October 1998 with the vague idea that one day, out of a community composting project, there might emerge a social enterprise based around composting and food growing and that it would start a vegetable box scheme to allow people without much money access to fresh, locally-grown produce. By the summer of 1999 it was drowning in green waste, collecting 10 tonnes per month. In terms of the UK's community composting sector this was towards the top end of the range. This "punching above its weight" characteristic has stuck around CHLT ever since, just as it has with so many other Environment Wales registered projects.
Everything was handballed - there was no machinery in sight, not even an old tractor. The project had access to a tiny livestock trailer 6' x 4', pulled by a volunteer's estate car, plenty of brawn and a little brain! Looking at its long-term ability to survive at the time most would have been forgiven for thinking it had no prospects.
But Environment Wales thought otherwise and backed it with a Management Grant in 2001 worth £8,000 per year for the first 3 years followed by a further 3 years tapering to a final £2,000 in 2006-7. There is no doubt that this vital support allowed the project to hang on by its finger tips and slowly climb towards sustainability. It has been a long and, at times, difficult journey, but the Environment Wales development officers have been there over the years to give important advice, guidance and support in practical ways which work.
Environment Wales also provides so many examples of small projects which inspire others to do likewise. Pioneering ideas need fertile soil to take root and be nurtured. It's the nurturing bit that Environment Wales is so good at and which makes that difference between evolving into something bigger and of far greater use to the environment and society than just one person's hobby horse.
CHLT reflects the whole approach that Environment Wales has towards sustainable development. Find out what works and then pursue the chosen course with determination and drive. If a project's basic aim is appropriate to time and place eventually it will succeed because it is saying the right thing to the right people at the right time. But getting that combination doesn't happen all at once: it takes time, hard work and patience. In Cwm Harry's case, Environment Wales has intervened appropriately at various stages to nudge it in the right direction.
If a general view is taken about where we are in Wales with this sustainability stuff, Wales gets lots of bangs for its bucks in the case of Environment Wales's accomplishments and the achievements of its registered member projects.
It is always worth remembering that out of small acorns mighty oaks can and sometimes do grow.