The Lammas Project
The Lammas Ecovillage is a low-impact, off-grid ecovillage near Crymych in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, comprising nine households and a community hub on a 76 acres (31 ha) site. Buildings are constructed of natural materials and energy obtained from renewable sources. Planning permission took some years to obtain, but has established a replicable template for similar future developments in Wales. The project was the first ecovillage in the UK to attain prospective planning permission, and this was achieved in 2009 after a three year planning campaign culminating in a public hearing. The project had applied under an innovative local planning policy designed to support low-impact development. The policy required residents to live a sustainable lifestyle and substantially support themselves from land-based livelihood.
The houses at Lammas use low-impact architecture with a combination of recycled and natural materials. The project is essentially a self-build affair, where nine families have 5 acres on which to build a family home, a workshop/shed and animal shelters. There are a combination of building styles including straw bale, earth sheltered, timber frame and cob. The houses feature the latest environmental technologies and design techniques. The dwellings blend into the landscape. Indeed they are largely made from elements of the landscape (for example turf roofs, cob walls, timber cladding).
Since Lammas, the Welsh Government have introduced a national low-impact policy, called "One Planet Development", which creates a framework for land-based smallholdings and ecovillage projecWalests to be established in