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| The reservoir at the Centre for Alternative Technology |
Many of those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ will this week be reflecting about his really bad week. Betrayed by one of his select confidantes into the hands of people who put him through a mock trial and then convinced the imperial authority to kill him using their most barbarous method. Deserted by his closest friends at his hour of need. Even God seemed to desert him. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he cried out near to death, as recorded by the gospel writers Mark and Matthew.
Compared with that, all the weeks of my life so far have been a walk in the park. You never know what life will throw at you but recognising and being grateful for the good things each day brings, however mundane, is, I suspect, the way to keep positive in tough times.
So my week has had lots of good things in it as well as bad. A chance to act in a drama at church. Being paid to teach a piano lesson for the first time. Being invited over for a tasty North African lunch at a friend's house. Having a fish and chips takeaway with a group of other friends. Sowing more seeds and seeing more of them germinate (and frowning at those that aren't). Getting an invite for a cuppa and chat with my next door neighbours. Little gifts arriving from my landlords and my mum. Taking my first bath since I arrived back in Wales.
The bad? Well, the heavy rain has turned everything into a quagmire and the wind keeps threatening to whip my caravan awning away. Living a hilly mile away from the land has its challenges, as I keep discovering when on my land that something I need is back up the hill, or vice versa. I accidentally went two hours forward instead of one hour on Saturday night, something to do with thinking my phone was set not to jump forward automatically but it did, which meant not only missing a crucial hour of sleep but also getting soaked waiting for someone to pick me up at 8am instead of 9am.
Worse, the North Wales Trunk Road Agency finally replied and told me that they would refuse permission for a planning application to build a dwelling on my land. They think the access onto the A road is too poor, in that the visibility is not great for oncoming traffic where the track meets the road. It is something I have suspected they might say but now it's confirmed. It means that there's now no route left to getting official permission for residency on the land.
So I am going to carry on this year, growing veg, selling it, and living away from the land. But this current arrangement of kipping in my neighbour's outhouse will not last forever, perhaps not beyond this year, so I am going to have to do some serious thinking about the future.
On top of all that, the budding romance in my life is over - this week we called it off and decided we are better off as friends.
Sadly this is not all one big April Fool's joke!
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| The beginnings of a big firewood store |
Sorry to hear that things have been a bit uphill (literally and figuratively) of late. With regards to the planning, can you find out what improvements you could make at the entrance to make it comply with the road authorities requirements? Maybe some hedge-trimming, tree-felling or splaying of the entrance road? Do you have any other options regarding planning? e.g. under the One Planet scheme? Chin up and ATB.
ReplyDeleteThey would require it to comply with the DMRB standard for new residences, which is basically impossible because of the topography, such a sharp slope down at an acute angle off the A road.
DeleteThis would be a requirement for conversion to residential land use, under One Planet or any other planning law.
There's also no way I can create a new entrance to the site anywhere, with the river on one side and this steep bank on the other.
So it seems that getting official permission to build down there is hamstrung unfortunately.
That's a shame. Sorry to hear that. I'm not familiar with the regulations, but I wonder if you could get round the problem by having a parking area at the entrance, or at another 'safe' place along the boundary and just a pedestrian access onto the site; i.e. no 'official' vehicular road onto the site? This is virtually the same as what people do when there is communal parking such as in some housing estates or at apartment blocks, they park in a designated area and then walk to their dwelling? It's not like you need to drive a tractor off your land onto the road. When you need to take produce off the site, you could use a wheelbarrow to bring the produce to your parking area then load it onto your jeep. Even if it was on the other side of the river (which seemed like it was quite narrow in your previous posts), you could make a footbridge from some timbers/trees from your land? Or is that crazy? Just a thought. Might be worth talking to a professional or, if the planning officer you are dealing with is helpful, pick his/her brains about a solution.
DeleteIf all else fails, do you have a plan as to how to proceed? ATB.
hi Mike thanks for your suggestions! There is a small parking spot at the entrance but I do sometimes need to drive down onto the land, eg yesterday I was collecting bagfuls of horse manure in my trailer, so it can't be a pedestrian-only track. (Also the gamekeepers drive down to look after the pheasants). Across the river is someone else's land which is sheep pasture, not a road I could connect with. I will talk again with the planning officer tomorrow.
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