Cefn Croes

Community

The Cefn Croes Wind Farm Community Trust was established on November 2005. The Board of the Trust is comprised of five Trustees; four of the Trustees represent the Communities of Pont-ar-Fynach and Blaenrheidol, while the fifth  Trustee represents Cambrian Wind Energy. Cambrian Wind Energy contributes £58,500 annually into the Trust and the Trustees consider applications for funding from members of the community and decide how the funds should be allocated to those projects.

Priority is given to projects in the Community Council Areas of Blaenrheidol and Pontarfynach and then to the wider area of the County of Ceredigion. The purpose of the Trust is to support any type of activity that involves local people, through small community organizations, that benefits their community. The activities must provide some measure of economic, environmental, educational, social or cultural benefit for people living in the area. Projects awarded grants in 2006, include equipment for Community Woodland maintenance, computers and digital camera for the Mynach Primary School, and provision of tutors, training aids, and equipment to Ponterwyd & District Art Club.

To see a full list of grants provided, go to the Ponterwyd Community website.

Falck also contributes £10,000 per year towards a land management plan. The aim of the plan is to restore the ecology of the area around the wind farm, which has been diminished through commercial forestry and intensive agriculture. The Plan is being managed in partnership with the Forestry Commission, the Welsh Assembly, ADAS, the Countryside Council for Wales, RSPB Cymru, and Ceredigion Council.

Falck renewables supports The Red Kite Challenge which takes place in June every year. It was first held as a trail race in the hills of Ceredigion, Mid Wales, in mid-summer 2003. The race follows paths and tracks through forests, across moorlands and past lakes, with less than a mile of tarmac surface.

More information about the run is available on their website: www.redkite-barcudcoch.org.uk