Letter from Dr David Lewis which appeared in the Cambrian News on 24th May 2008

 

Assembly stubbornly refused to answer our questions

 

Madam,

Everyone in Ardudwy would like to see new jobs make up for those lost when

Llanbedr airfield was closed four years ago (front page of last week’s issue). But they

need to be sustainable jobs, available to local people, in activities that are appropriate

in Wales’s premier National Park. Can Kemble Air Services provide that?

 

For two months Cymdeithas Eryri Snowdonia Society has been probing the basis on

which a decision was made behind closed doors in Cardiff to lease 563 acres to Kemble

for 125 years. The Welsh Government could have resolved the matter long ago, but have

stubbornly refused to answer our questions, even in response to formal requests under the

Freedom of Information Act. What have they got to hide?

 

Our efforts have at least prompted Kemble to undertake a charm offensive in the area. But

it is still not clear what they intend. Some existing local businesses may move to the airfield,

but there have been no more than vague promises of new jobs. In the light of Kemble’s

operations in the Cotswolds there are some disturbing possibilities about what they might

launch into at Llanbedr. Will it be buzzing swarms of microlights destroying the peace of the

Artro and Cwm Nantcol? Or a scrapyard for large airliners? Kemble need to come clean

about what they plan to do at Llanbedr, and whether they could do it without applying for

planning permission, and the proper public scrutiny that would involve.

 

Yours etc,

Dr David Lewis, Trustee

Cymdeithas Eryri Snowdonia Society

Llanbedr