Partnerships and projects in the Dyfi valley
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Partnerships and projects in the Dyfi valley |
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Become a member of ecodyfi We want everybody in the Valley to join, so it only costs £1. Drop into Ty Bro Dyfi or send some stamps. The information centre is open Monday to Friday between 10.00 and 3.00. You might even like to get involved in staffing it or in helping to run a project. Please come and see us!
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The community regeneration group for the Dyfi valley (ecodyfi) celebrated its progress during the last year at its Annual General Meeting on June 19th. The members present at the Plas Dolguog hotel enjoyed an interesting and useful evening and elected the Board members for the coming year. The newest member of staff, Tom O'Kane, presented his work to help the community reduce wastage. He discovered that everybody had something to say about recycling and how we could benefit from it. His project is funded by Powys County Council and Environment Wales, with resources from the National Assembly. The most ambitious part of the plan is to set up a system to collect recyclable materials from people's houses in Machynlleth. Teresa Walters explained the opportunities available to businesses and community groups through the Dyfi valley Tourism Growth Area project, which is managed by ecodyfi. This is aimed at improving the quality of visitors' experiences by encouraging applications for the Wales Tourist Board's capital investment grants. Teresa has been helping the Aberdyfi Partnership develop proposals for an eco visitor centre and Mach Off-Road Ltd with its plans to build mountain biking trails in the Dyfi forest. One of the most inspiring events held this year was the launch of the community wind turbine at Pantperthog, owned by Bro Dyfi Community Renewables Ltd. This and other local solar and water power projects resulted in two prestigious awards for ecodyfi and its partners during the year. One was a European award for best rural energy partnership and the other was for "planning for sustainability", from the Royal Town Planning Institute. The WDA, Forest Enterprise, Powys Energy Agency and Powys County Council were the other partners. The Co-Chair, Nic Dunkley of Taliesin, underlined the central role that ecodyfi now plays in bringing people together. "Since we widened our role from the initial focus on energy and changed our aim to sustainable community regeneration, we've made an impact by working with others as well as by running our own projects", she said. She cited Communities First as potentially the most significant of these partnerships but the work with CAMAD, the Red Cross and CAT to develop public and community transport is also important. Some important groups and projects are more local, such as the ones in Dinas Mawddwy and Talybont. The WDA supports much of ecodyfi's work, including its new base at Ty Bro Ddyfi, 52 Maengwyn Street. Services available in this building include information provision, a meeting room and art gallery and promotional space for businesses and local projects. The web site www.ecodyfi.org.uk is another significant community asset developed this year. None of this would be possible without the input of volunteers. The ecodyfi Manager, Andy Rowland, ended the evening by thanking them, and mentioned a wide range of ways in which more people could get involved, from recycling plastic to distributing leaflets, and by joining working groups to develop Broadband provision and other areas of work. |
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