Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
As well as being the year of the Strategy for Gower, 1973 was also the year in which the importance
of the peninsula's unspoilt coastline was further recognised by its definition as a Heritage Coast by the
Countryside Commission. Heritage Coasts are a non-statutory landscape definition, unlike the formally
designated
AONBS
and National Parks. They were identified in response to widespread concern about the
loss of unspoiled coastlines to insensitive developments, including caravan sites, industry and urban ex-
pansion. Most Heritage Coasts, like Gower, simply extend along the shore between two named points.
Their status carries no legal protection, but planning authorities must take the designation into account
before taking decisions on matters that could affect the area. The responsibility for looking after Heritage
Coasts normally lies with local authorities. Management plans are drawn up, and carried out by Heritage
Coast Officers who often call on teams of volunteers to help with practical tasks.
The advent of the Heritage Coast therefore resulted in a Heritage Coast Warden, Roy Ladd, being ap-
pointedbySwanseaCityCouncilinthemid-1970s,andtherewereseveralinitiativesonvariousdegraded
sand-dune systems around Gower, such as the successful work at Port-Eynon and Horton. By 1978 there
were '12 labourers, 1 foreman, 1 trainee foreman, 1 clerical assistant and 1 Heritage Coast Assistant' em-
ployed through the Manpower Services Commission as part of the Gower Heritage Coast Management
Programme. The aim of the programme was to 'tackle the most pressing environmental problems along
the Gower coast coordinating and utilising all possible sources of labour, materials and finance for that
purpose'. In total there were ten projects that related to areas 'where public access and activity have de-
graded the environment and the emphasis has been placed on practical and effective projects which can
beimplementedquicklyandbyarelativelyuntrainedworkforce'.Projectareasconsistedofeither'fragile
sand dunes' or very popular clifftop footpaths such as that between Rhossili village and Worms Head,
which had become eroded.
The
Swansea District Plan
of 1981 noted that 'Some useful work on stabilising and protecting sand
dunes has already been completed at Port Eynon using funds for the relief of unemployment. Although
this is an example of what can be achieved wherever natural beauty is threatened, there is a need for
wardens experienced in countryside matters to coordinate management initiatives and to provide a coun-
tryside educational service to both schools and the general public'. Despite all this activity there was no
overallHeritageCoastmanagementplanoranylinktowider
AONB
initiatives.Aswiththeprevious
AONB
warden, when the Heritage Coast Warden retired in the late 1980s there was no direct replacement, al-
though the City Council carried on with small-scale works on a number of coastal sites until the creation
of the Gower Countryside Service in 1990.
The
Gower Management Plan
(Osborne, 1990) led to the author's appointment as the first senior
AONB
Officer in the
UK
, with the remit of acting as a coordinator and being a focus for action. One of the
firsttaskswastosetuptheGowerCountrysideForum,astheadvisorycommittee forthedesignatedarea.
AswiththepreviousSpecialAreaSubCommittee,thisrecognisedtheimportanceofthelocalauthorities,
statutory agencies and voluntary bodies having a coordinated approach to the designated area. The ap-
pointmentofthe
AONB
Officerwasfollowedin1992bytheappointmentofaProjectOfficer,SteveParry,
whose role was to initiate practical conservation projects.
This work resulted in the designation of other important areas of the coastline owned by the local au-
thority, at Mumbles Hill and Pwlldu Cliffs, as Local Nature Reserves, and pioneering approaches to the
conservation of major sand-dune systems and common land. Particularly important was the management
plan for Hillend and Broughton Burrows, which together represent the single largest stretch of the Her-
itage Coast in private ownership (Fig. 172). The plan for Cefn Bryn Common, the largest common-land
unit in the peninsula, led to the signing of a Tir Cymen agri-environment scheme with the commons, the
first such agreement in the country, and a number of important management schemes. The built heritage
was not neglected either, and a significant amount of time was spent on the consolidation of Port-Eynon
