Tag: Open Spaces Society

Wales Ruled By The Wampis?

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Environmentalism26 Comments

I am indebted to a good source for introducing me to an outfit I’d never heard of, called Local Partnerships LLP. Here’s the website, and here’s the Companies House entry.

Sticking with the CH filings, we see three names under ‘Officers’. The Designated Members are H M Treasury and the Local Government Association, but the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ is just a ‘Member’.

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INTRODUCING THE WAMPIS

Let’s start with the Local Partnerships website, which tells us . . .

Our purpose is to help public sector organisations face the ever-increasing challenge of meeting rising demands for services, with shrinking budgets.

Last week Local Partnerships brought out their Wales Annual Impact Report 2025. So let’s go through it, see what joys it offers up.

In Chair Keith Fraser’s Foreword, in the very first paragraph, we read a reference to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Insane legislation, the authorship of which is claimed by privately-educated, globe-trotting climate fanatic, former Assembly Member for Pontypridd, and now good-life smallholder, Jane Davidson.

Though I’m persuaded there was much input from others.

This Act now dictates everything done by the ‘Welsh Government’, public bodies, local authorities, and just about everybody else. Forcing Wales to commit economic suicide on the false premiss that we are threatened by an anthropogenic climate crisis.

But now it gets rather strange. For as the Introduction to the Act itself says:

No disrespect to the Wampis . . . but are we seriously expected to run a complex, post-industrial society by following the example of a Stone Age Amazonian tribe?

And if you’re wondering about “the Seventh Generation Principle“, it also comes from Native Americans, this time the Iroquois, whose territory I believe straddled the eastern border between the USA and Canada.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the strong whiff of bollocks here with all this “indigenous wisdom“. It echoes all the other ‘wisdom’ and advice attributed to sage old Indians . . . that was made up by LSD-dropping hippies in the 1960s.

Despite the patronising ‘noble savage’ trope being widely debunked it inspires and infuses the 2015 Act; and even though it’s hailed as an “example to the world” . . . the Act remains, eleven years on, an example nobody has been daft enough to follow.

Who’s gonna tell the Wampis!

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GEMS FROM THE REPORT

As I pointed out earlier, on the surface, Local Partnerships describes itself as a body helping public sector organisations. But I don’t think that’s strictly true. Let’s delve into the Report again.

And let’s go to page 11, where we encounter a rather curious juxtaposition:

Sustainable Farming Scheme business case approved for a national, multi-year programme

new National Park in Wales progressed toward designation.

What public sector bodies or small local projects are being aided here?

The Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) is designed to reduce farming in the name of saving the planet. (On the advice of the Wampis?) And it’s being pushed by the ‘Welsh Government’ in its war against the Welsh family farm.

The truth is that it’s a policy to free up land for investors and the wildlife trusts and other bodies said investors control or influence through funding and other means. But this ambition doesn’t confine itself to land. For those behind it want to put a value on everything, including the air we breathe – and then make us pay for it.

The new national park proposed for the north east, provisionally named Glyndŵr National Park, is rejected by local authorities and most people living in the area.

Proven by the fact that in a survey conducted by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) most of the support for the idea came from outside the area affected, even from outside of Wales. And it still only managed 53% backing.

The groups that want the new park are the usual suspects, like the Open Spaces Society, urging its largely English membership to show their support. But this is supposed to be a decision made within Wales.

Despite local objections, and external interference, it seems to be a done deal.

Whatever happened to ‘local democracy’? Well, that concept is only invoked when it supports a pre-determined outcome. Which, in this case, means it’s disregarded.

The SFS crops up again, on page 23. In fact, it gets the whole page. And it’s mentioned again on page 24.

Is Local Partnerships helping with local projects or dictating ‘Welsh Government’ policy?

On page 17 we find a reference to “Re:fit“. Does this refer to what I think it refers to? I suspect it does because later in that same sentence we see ” . . . fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes including Warm Homes, NEST and ECO“.

Was Local Partnerships involved in the ECO4 fiasco that led to the collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions, which I wrote about last month in, ‘Grab The Money And Run!‘?

Climate bullshit in a domestic setting

Next, a remarkable map of where Local Partnerships operates. Now I’m not very good with figures, but I don’t need to do any counting to see that the bulk of the projects being helped and funded are in Cardiff, or within 15 or 20 miles of Corruption Bay.

So many dots that some have to be located out to sea!

Pembrokeshire has a single project! Conwy two. Gwynedd three. Yet this is how devolution works. This is how devolution was always supposed to work. Cardiff gets the lion’s share of everything.

Preferential treatment that even extends to rugby.

Page 17 mentions the UK government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC). I know it describes itself as an “independent advisor“, but that’s a smokescreen.

Here’s a letter from the CCC, in July last year, to Huw Irranca-Davies SM, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs. It says:

We recommended that the Fourth Carbon Budget should be set to require average annual emissions over the five-year period from 2031 to 2035 to be at least 73% lower than the 1990 baseline, including Wales’ contribution to international aviation and shipping.*

I suppose 73% lower than the 1993 baseline is achievable, if you close the odd steelworks, stop people driving cars, etc. But why do we need to make this reduction?

And what the hell is Wales’ contribution to “international aviation and shipping“? Are they suggesting Powys closes Llanfair Caereinion International Airport?

Later in the letter we read:

Carbon units, also known as international carbon credits, represent a reduction or removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (‘the Act’), the Welsh Government has the option to purchase international credits to help meet Wales’ emissions targets.

So not only are we expected to pursue the self-destructive idiocy of Net Zero, and swallow the scientific illiteracy that says CO2 is destroying the planet, but if Wales falls short ‘we’ can buy ‘International carbon credits’ to make up the shortfall.

Where would the ‘Welsh Government’ get these ‘credits’? Has it bought any?

Throughout the Local Partnerships document there’s hardly any reference to jobs, or the economy; just the fabled ‘green economy’, and the equally mythical ‘green jobs’.

Why am I not surprised!

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CONCLUSIONS

It seems to me that the “close cooperation” Local Partnerships claims with the ‘Welsh Government’ means ensuring that Wales follows the Westminster line. It may even mean that Wales is used to test certain ‘initiatives’ before they’re rolled out in England.

So much for devolution, you might say. But again, this was always a purpose for which devolution was intended.

Here’s another thought. One of the two full partners in Local Partnerships LLP is the Local Government Association (LGA) which represents local authorities. Local Partnerships bangs on relentlessly about green energy, and how we must invest in it.

So did the LGA have a role in Welsh local authorities investing £68m of their pension pot in Bute Energy? Will there be further investment?

Finally – and I make no apologies – I’m returning to the Future Generations legislation, and the reference in the Act’s preamble to taking direction from “indigenous wisdom“.

The Act to which all other legislation, initiatives, polices, must submit or conform, and predicated on the claimed ‘wisdom’ of Indian tribes in the Americas.

Or look at it this way . . . What about the genuine wisdom of Welsh farmers, whose families have been on the land for generations? Wisdom that’s more relevant to Wales than that of Wampis and Iroquois.

So why are our farmers ignored, even vilified?

Only a fool, or an enemy of Wales, would ignore our farmers and claim to be guided by those who’ve never heard of Wales. Unfortunately, there are too many fools and enemies dictating what we must do in our country.

Which makes Local Partnerships suspect in my book. So watch out for it in future.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Fleece Jacket Fascists

On By JacIn Colonisation of Wales, Environmentalism, Third Sector15 Comments

This year saw a heated debate that most Welsh people would have been unaware was even taking place; not surprising seeing as it was about Marine Conservation Zones in the north west. Eventually, the protests of commercial fishermen and others saw the ‘Welsh’ Government do a U-turn. These Zones had been proposed with the support of the Countryside Council for Wales, now subsumed into Natural Resources Wales, and the Marine Conservation Society. The first of those bodies is run by the ‘Welsh’ Government, while the other seems to be yet another in the unending list of Englandandwales outfits. (Remember all that talk of devolution? Do you think it will ever happen?)

At the other end of the country we have seen a remarkably similar story, with very similar groups (one, the same) opposing the plan for a motor racing circuit in Ebbw Vale: first it was The Gwent Wildlife Trust, then the Open Spaces Society got in on the act before, finally, our old friends, Natural Resources Wales piped up. I made my position on the Ebbw Vale project clear in this recent post, and I shall repeat it here. If this project can deliver real jobs to the Heads of the Valleys for Welsh people, then we must support it, and ignore the objections. But earlier this week we were told that the ‘Welsh’ Government had put the project ‘on hold’. Seeing as the Assembly is in recess this decision was almost certainly taken by civil servants. Given the background of so many top civil servants in Wales we should not be surprised to see them support protests from what are, essentially, middle class English groups. Their people.

What I now realise from these and other sources is that we have a burgeoning sector of ‘Welsh’ life that is usually alien in its composition, and often hostile to Welsh interests in its policies and attitudes. The fleece jacketmembers of this sector, found all over Wales, can be recognised by their distinctive ‘uniform’ of the fleece jacket. They can be found patrolling our National Parks and nature reserves; we may know them as ‘rangers’ or ‘guides’; they may be working for the National Trust, the RSPB, Woodland Trust, countless wildlife and archaeological trusts, etc., etc. Unless the Welsh language comes into play – as with the Snowdonia National Park – then the practice in the fleece jacket industry is to not employ locals.

How do they get away with it? Simple. In today’s carefully nurtured political and social climate, in which wicked humanity is destroying the planet, a serial killer would be forgiven if he was ‘protecting dolphins’, and Hitler himself could come back and be rehabilitated if he was saving the habitat of some rare and exquisite orchid. More practically, the fleeces always have friends in high places. One was Jane Davidson, Minister for Environment and Sustainability from 2007 to 2011. Among the policies Davidson wanted to introduce was that of opening all Welsh rivers, lakes and waterways to her canoeist friends. It is of course entirely coincidental that Jane Davidson is English, and went to a private school; as is the fact that upon leaving politics she became Director of the Wales Institute of Sustainability and a spokesperson for the Ramblers Association.

Let me end by addressing something some of you may be thinking – that I’ve gone OTT with my description of these people and, consequently, the title of this post. Well, in my defence I would ask you to ponder this. We now have in Wales an army of fleece-jacketed, dictatorial outsiders who view ‘Wales’ through the prism of the group they represent – the English middle class visitor or settler. Too many of this group regard Welsh people as a blot on ‘their’ landscape, marring ‘their’ idyll. They’re in Wales, uninvited, telling us what we can and cannot do. Much of what they do (and wish to do) is inimical to our best interests, yet they do not have a single democratic vote to justify the power they possess and the influence they exert. So what would you call them?

And I haven’t even mentioned the funding. For very often the ‘Welsh’ Government – i.e. you and me – is funding these people to work against Welsh interests so that Wales can be saved for them and their friends. What a bloody system!

Vroom, Vroom – The Next Gravy Train?

On By JacIn Environmentalism14 Comments

I don’t know how many of you are aware of this, but there’s a new £250m racetrack planned for Ebbw Vale, to be known as the Circuit of Wales. Promising to bring high tech, top-wage jobs; tens of thousands of high-spending visitors; and much more besides. All this promised by a company – the Heads of the Valleys Development Company – set up specifically and solely to deliver this project. I was unable to find a website in Ebbw Valethe name of HVDC so I assume this serves as the company’s website. So who’s behind the company?

Well, one of the founding directors is named as Peter Thomas. Is this ‘Peter the Pies’, the man behind that great Welsh success story, Cardiff Blues? Or is it Swansea’s Peter Thomas, who is obviously big in tyres? Either way or neither way, according to Company Check, Peter Thomas joined (set up?) the company on June 30th, 2011. Presumably with a Mr M. A. Carrick, who is listed as joining the Board on the same day. Though according to Company Check Peter Thomas left the Board roughly a year later, on July 13th, 2012.# Which appears to have left the company with just one director! Whatever, August 13th, 2012, saw four new Board Members appointed: Mr S. J. Kealey, Mr T. N. Murnane, Ms A. L. Lloyd-Carrick and Mr A. P. Woodbury. Can we assume that Ms Lloyd-Carrick is somehow related?

Oh, yes . . . perhaps I should have mentioned earlier that this exciting new Welsh venture has its global headquarters at The Coach House, 79 Mill Way, Grantchester, Cambridge CB3 9ND. (Yes, that is the Grantchester of Rupert Brooke fame: ‘Corner of a foreign field’ and all that.)

Let us return to the man who appears to have been the co-founder of the Heads of the Valleys Development Company / Circuit of Wales, M. A. Carrick. Not so long ago he was working for Merrill Lynch, which many people believe is more responsible for the current financial crisis than perhaps any other single company. In fact, he’s described as nothing less than ML’s “Managing Director and Global Head of infrastructure”. Carrick now plies his trade – whatever it might be – with Duet Asset Management, which, reassuringly, appears to specialise in hedge funds. But he also seems to run Aventa Capital Partners Ltd., which looks like another new company set up to promote, or capitalise on, the Ebbw Vale project. Listed with Carrick on the ‘Investment Committee’ of Aventa are Charles Grime and David Bates.

Another name I have unearthed in connection with this venture is Chris Herring, formerly of Honda Racing. Though he is not mentioned in the Company Check extract referred to above. Of those who are mentioned as joining the company in August 2012, information is sparse. Without, I admit, digging too deeply, I drew a complete blank with S. J. Kealey, T. N. Murnane and Ms A. L. Lloyd-Carrick. The search for A. P. Woodbury produced only this which might, or might not, be him.Neil and Glenys

One more name is worthy of mention in connection with this project . . . wait for it! – Neil Kinnock!!! Who is billed as the “Ambassador”. I don’t wish to appear cynical, or unkind (you know me!) – but any project needing Kinnochio to lend it “considerable credibility” is surely dead in the water. Though give him his due, he can still recognise a gravy train approaching, even one running on very expensive tyres.

Someone else plugging the project, sort of, was that famous Danish rugby international, Sebastian Barrett, writing for Click on Wales. Though he seemed to quickly lose interest in highly-tuned engines and soon started plugging the Cardiff city state and the planned Cardiff Metro system. So irrelevant had the Ebbw Vale project become to him that at one point he referred to the Circuit of Wales as the “Circle of Wales”! (What’s happened to the Institute of Welsh Affairs, it’s become just another mouthpiece for Cardiff?)

The reason I started writing this piece is that there is mounting opposition to the project from a particularly obnoxious sub-species of colon. You know who I mean, they’re always on the ‘Welsh’ News, fleece jackets and English accents; ‘Oh, you can’t do that!’ ‘Oh no, we oppose this’. All of them working for bodies funded by taxpayers, charity collections, old ladies’ legacies, EU or other funding. Dictatorial bastards who want to keep Wales unspoilt by jobs or prosperity, preserved in aspic for the English middle classes to which most of them belong. First, in November, it was the Gwent Wildlife Trust. Then in March the Open Spaces Society chipped in. Last week it was Natural Resources Wales. It begins to look co-ordinated on the part of those who ‘love’ Wales but don’t give a toss about the Welsh.

Weighing it all up, my position is as follows. If this project can deliver what it promises, primarily investment and well-paid jobs for local people, then I support it. But I have grave reservations as to whether it will deliver. Mainly because I have little faith in those behind it. I smell another Valleywood. So strong is the aroma that I would have expected ourCarrick wonderful Welsh Government to be asking many more questions about those behind a £250m project that will soon be asking for a hell of a lot of public funding. (Or does Kinnock’s involvement mean that this scheme gets nodded through?) I might also be worried by what appears to be the total lack of Welsh involvement. When does ‘outside investment’ become exploitation, colonialism? As for those objecting on what they allege to be environmental grounds . . . I’m sure you think you mean well, but shut up!

#Though on this page (shown right) of the Circuit of Wales website, in an undated piece, Peter Thomas is still listed as a director. He is also listed as CEO of Insight in Infrastructure, another new company (set up in September 2011) and also based in Cambridge. Though this company appears dormant, if not dead. Yet these are the people running a £250m racetrack project, with only one among them who appears to have any experience of motor sport, and no obvious assets. Doesn’t that fill you with confidence?