Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Salthouse in a joint project with the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. This subsequently won the
Heritage in Britain award. A jointly agreed interpretive strategy for the peninsula resulted in a coordin-
ated approach to visitor information by all the relevant organisations, with joint information panels being
produced and a number of local businesses being developed as Gower Information Points.
FIG 172. Conservation work on the dunes at Broughton by the Gower Countryside Service. (City and County of
Swansea)
Followinglocalgovernmentreorganisation in1996,theGowerCountrysideServicewasincorporated
into a wider countryside management group covering the whole of the new unitary authority area. This
wasaretrogradestepasitremovedthefocusfromthe AONB anddilutedtheresourcesavailable.Thefinal
remnants of the Countryside Service were disbanded in 2000, and the first AONB to be designated is now
the only one without a dedicated AONB unit.
OneofthecriticalachievementsoftheGowerCountrysideService,however,wastosetuptheGower
Commons Initiative as part of the Tomorrow's Heathland Heritage programme. In the absence of a spe-
cific AONB unit this has continued vital work on the common land through a partnership of organisations.
The programme is a national initiative that aims to revive lowland heathland and its wildlife, re-creating
a landscape that benefits both people and wildlife. Led by English Nature and supported by the Herit-
age Lottery Fund, the partnership is making substantial progress towards the national targets of restoring
58,000 hectares of heathland and re-creating a further 6,000 hectares.
The Gower Commons Initiative covers eight commons and brings together the National Trust, the
City and County of Swansea, the Gower Commoners Association, the Countryside Council for Wales,
Llangennith Manors, the Somerset Trust and the Gower Society. Much of the work is undertaken by the
commoners working together with volunteers and using traditional skills alongside modern mechanical
ones (Fig. 173). This has aided in the re-skilling and training of local people in traditional methods used
to maintain the heathland. One important benefit of the project is that it has prompted a campaign to slow
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