Join a workshop and help us understand what matters to you

Our Listening Project is about finding out how the landscape, and the changes which have happened and are happening to it, have affected people and communities around the Cambrian Mountains.  As Stage 1, we’ve been asking what issues matter to people over the summer and you can see the results of that below.  Now, we want to hear more about the most important of those issues.

To do that, we’re running a series of workshops in September and October.  They’ll start with a short, general discussion about perceptions of the area which we’ll record and turn into a map.  Smaller groups will explore the specific issues in a bit more depth.  We know it takes time to get to the heart of things, so we’re providing lunch and time in the afternoon for individual conversations to make sure we get your full perspective. We expect each workshop to run from 10.30 until about 3 or 3.30pm.

Where and when?

The workshops will be:

• Llandovery, at the Rugby Club, on 2 September 2024;
• Rhayader, at the Lost Ark, on 1 October 2024;
• Tregaron at the Rugby Club (note change of venue), on 18 October 2024
• Llanidloes at the Community Centre, on 4 November 2024, and
• Ponterwyd at the George Borrow Hotel, on 21 November 2024.

What does it cost?

The workshops are free, as this project is supported by a grant from the British Academy.  Anyone can come along; we want as many people as possible from all parts of the community to be able to join us and share their views.

How do I join?

You can let us know either by email (secretary@cambrian-mountains.co.uk) or by phone on 01591 610192.

What are the issues to be discussed?

Our poll results are shown below.  In short, we had over 130 responses from people up and down the region.  The most important past changes were the increase in conifer plantations, the construction of Llyn Brianne and the changes to the agricultural support systems.  The future changes which people felt most strongly about are the energy schemes (wind farms and pylons), commercial forestry and the incoming (but still unknown) agricultural support systems.

Poll results

These two graphs summarise all the responses we received.  In each graph, the darkest colour shows how many people considered that issue the most important, down to the lightest colour showing people who ranked as least important.

Figure 1: Respondents’ views of historical influences on the Cambrian Mountains region.

Figure 2:  Respondents’ views as to which factors are likely to be most influential in the future.

Here, perhaps unsurprisingly, the schemes regarded as likely to be the most influential are energy related schemes.

Respondents’ ages were only weakly correlated with the issues they felt most strongly about.  There was no correlation at all between how long respondents have lived in the area and their views as to what changes were most significant.

What happens next?

Once all the workshops are finished, we’ll be producing a questionnaire focussed on what people have told us, to circulate to the community more widely in both Welsh and English.  This is to make sure that everyone who wants to contribute can have a say even if they aren’t able to join a workshop.  The questionnaire will be circulated until the end of 2024.

Once we have any extra feedback from that, then we’ll analyse the results and produce a report which we’ll feed back to Welsh Government to give them a better insight into how their policies (past and future) affect the people of the Cambrian Mountains.  We hope that, having detailed and objective information to work from, they will pay close attention to the impact policy has on individuals and communities, as well as landscape.