Hopes high for rescue of wildlife haven at Bangor's Brewery Fields

Jan 21 2009 By Jamie Smith

Brewery Fields

CAMPAIGNERS against plans to develop a council-owned wildlife haven and community space on the edge of Bangor, are sensing victory.

The Eithinog and Brewery Fields site has been the subject of one of Bangor’s longest running and controversial issues in recent years and now looks to be drawing to a close.

Gwynedd Council’s latest proposals for the fields will mean a further large reduction in the number of houses due to be built there, and none of them look set to be on the fields themselves.

The council’s new proposal is for fewer than 40 homes to be built at the site under the new Unitary Development Plan after the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) designated much of the fields as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in August.

The fields extend from Ysgol Friars at the north-east end to land behind the Maes y Ffynnon office complex in Penrhosgarnedd.

At the end of the month the CCW are expected to announce the rest of the area as a SSSI, and Councillor Dai Rees Jones believes that will draw a line under the saga.

He said: "There aren’t actually any houses going to be built on the site known as Brewery Fields now.

"The only place left for building houses is around the electricity substation, which does not affect the Brewery Fields land at all because it’s on the road.

"Theoretically there can be 35 or so houses built on the land, but realistically common sense suggests it will only be about 10 homes built there.

"I think it is the end of the line for the very long-running Brewery Fields saga. It seems very likely that the CCW is going to come out and announce it as a site of scientific interest at the end of the month.

"The council’s policy has always been that if the land is decided to be of scientific interest then it won’t build on it, so if the CCW say what we expect them to say then there will be no houses built on the fields.

"It is a complete victory for the campaigners against the development, but it is important that CCW move quickly to secure the designation of the land so that we can move on to plan for the long-term preservation of Brewery Fields."

The saga began in 2004 when the council announced that nearly 300 homes would be developed on the fields overlooking the Menai Bridge.

Since the initial plans were announced in 2004 there have been campaigns by naturalists against the development after rare grassland fungi was found to be present there.

Further discoveries in 2007, including one red listed species, Ramariopsis crocea, which is extremely rare, persuaded the CCW to intervene last year and block the housing plans.

Local campaigner Maredudd Ap Rheinallt, who was involved in surveying the fields, said: "This further proposed reduction was inevitable given the fields’ new SSSI status, but will still be greatly welcomed by local people as well as naturalists everywhere.

"This year we have found additional uncommon species of fungi here, confirming the site to be one of the best in Wales."