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1 Canolfan Tir Glas A new vision for Lampeter
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CanolfanTir Glas
A new vision for Lampeter
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CanolfanTir GlasA new vision for Lampeter
Traditionally, ‘tir glas’ can be translated as ‘green land’ and conveys a green and fertile landscape similar to the one in which Lampeter is located. It portrays a prosperous agricultural region whose land is both natural and productive.
‘Glastir’ is also the name of a sustainable land management scheme in Wales launched by the Welsh Government in 2012. Its goals include ‘combating climate change, improving water management and maintaining and enhancing biodiversity.’
The Centre’s name also relates to Storïau’r Tir Glas, a series of short stories published by D.J. Williams from the village of Rhydcymerau, that depicts the resilience and kindliness of the farming communities of the Lampeter area and the northern parts of Carmarthenshire at the beginning of the last century.
As a result of the recent pandemic, the University is currently reimagining the future potential of Lampeter and the role of the University in supporting an integrated vision for the town.
Having participated in a number of public events in recent years to consider the future direction of Lampeter, the University is convinced that it has a real opportunity – in partnership with others – to develop an entity that focuses on the relationship between itself and the surrounding natural and rich environment.
With that in mind, the University intends to establish Canolfan Tir Glas on its campus in Lampeter during 2021.
This centre – which will promote the local food industry, local sustainability, resilience and enterprise within a rural context – will focus on strengthening the economic infrastructure of Lampeter and its hinterland, providing the town and area with a clear focus in terms of identity and brand.
A core part of the scheme is to work closely with neighbourhood discount food retailer Aldi to develop the concept of a food village on part of Pontfaen fields. As a net carbon zero company, and with a clear ambition to cut single use plastic and source as much produce locally within Wales, Aldi’s business practices align with the principles underpinning the University’s aims for Canolfan Tir Glas.
With the sale of the land to Aldi, the University would also be in a position to invest significantly in a new food and hospitality training centre in the centre of Lampeter and a rural enterprise centre on its campus.
The scheme is underpinned by economic regeneration, with the aim of creating new jobs, attracting many more visitors to the town and increasing the number of further and higher education students studying in Lampeter.
The University sees the establishment of Canolfan Tir Glas as a significant development and a clear indication of its long-term commitment to the Lampeter Campus. Indeed, it can envisage this development leading in time to the establishment of the campus as a leading centre for sustainable education within the United Kingdom. That would be a fitting and appropriate way of celebrating the University’s bicentenary in 2022.
A new vision for Lampeter
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“An enterprising and distinctive region delivering economic growth driven by innovation, skills, connectivity and more productive jobs supporting prosperous and bilingual communities.”
(A Vision for Growing Mid Wales April 2020)
“We have focused on a strategy that will aim to re-invigorate the local economy and provide a prosperous, healthy, safe and affordable environment in which the citizens of Ceredigion can live and work and which will aim to try and retain our young people in well paid jobs.”
(Cllr. Elen ap Gwyn Leader of Ceredigion County Council – Ceredigion County Council’s Corporate Strategy 2017-2022)
“To support a future growing population, we need to be able to continue to invest in our places, making them attractive and affordable for our people to live and work alongside growing the visitor economy sustainably.”
(Boosting Ceredigion’s Economy: A Strategy for Action)
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The Vision The University recognises the importance of engaging itself with the local community and, with that in mind, the intention is to locate the proposed Centre in three specific places in the town. The Centre’s headquarters will be established on the University campus, while it will also have a prominent presence in the town centre in the form of an innovative training centre with a food village to celebrate and showcase local produce near the proposed Aldi food store on Pontfaen fields. These will all be interconnected providing a unique opportunity for the town and the University to work together strategically for the benefit and prosperity of the local economy for years to come.
Over the past 10 years, the University has made significant investment in its campus infrastructure and academic offer in Lampeter. Its vision is to develop a unique Lampeter offer by working closely with the community, developing skills levels within the region, creating employment opportunities and attracting further investment to the town. The realisation of the vision for Canolfan Tir Glas is facilitated by capital investment from Aldi in relation to Pontfaen fields. A key factor in choosing Aldi as a partner was its commitment to the vision as well as its corporate responsibility credentials, promoting sustainability, health and equality.
The aim is to launch the Centre in 2021 ensuring that within a year it would offer a range of post-16 courses in business and enterprise, food, rural tourism and hospitality, all of which would be delivered through a sustainability prism.
The Centre will also provide short courses in the form of micro-credits with a view to upskilling and raising the confidence of the existing workforce in Ceredigion and Mid Wales as a whole. The intention would be to offer these courses in 2022.
Canolfan Tir Glas’ headquarters on the campus will initially house three specific entities, namely:
1. A Learning and Research Centre for promoting small businesses in a rural context with a particular focus on the food and hospitality industries. There will be an opportunity to develop a rural enterprise hub within the Centre with specific space allocated to setting up and supporting micro-businesses;
2. A University of Gastronomy similar to the one developed at the University of Pollenzo in Italy - that would work in close partnership with Food Centre Wales in Horeb;
3. The Wales Centre for Resilience and Harmony that would work closely with locally rooted organisations such as the Lampeter Resilience Hub and the People’s
Food Market. It would also be possible to partner with other resilience centres such as The Resilience Centre in Lydney, Gloucestershire.
The vision is long-term and one that requires financial investment from several sources over a period of time.
The University will work closely with Ceredigion County Council, Lampeter Town Council and other partners to attract funding from various funds to develop the Canolfan Tir Glas initiative, ensuring that it acts as a catalyst for further developments across Ceredigion in the areas of food and hospitality.
There will be a real opportunity for the scheme to bid for significant funding from the Mid Wales Growth Fund in due course, with the aim of injecting new life and energy into the economy of Lampeter and the surrounding area.
With the current pandemic having changed people’s attitudes towards the environment, health and wellbeing, and with an increasing emphasis from the Welsh Government on the key principles of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, the establishment of the Centre will be a timely and welcome development both locally and nationally.
The University intends to see Canolfan Tir Glas maintaining an eco-system in the Lampeter area that will support rural infrastructure and act as a catalyst for promoting a tourism economy with a clear focus on food and hospitality.
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To provide a range of Level 3-8 qualifications on the Lampeter Campus that would support the food and hospitality industries in Ceredigion and beyond;
To develop a quality workforce for the local economy by upskilling and professionalising where necessary; To retain the area’s young people in Ceredigion;
To increase the number of further and higher education students
in the region; To increase the region’s
qualification levels; To organise residential conferences
of national and international status in the areas of food, hospitality and rural tourism on campus;
To promote sustainability as a key feature of student life on the Lampeter Campus;
To establish Lampeter as a major centre for promoting healthy and sustainable communities within a rural context;
To strengthen the infrastructure of the town and surrounding area’s economy creating new jobs within the food and hospitality sectors;
To develop Lampeter as a tourist destination, with a particular focus on the food industry and celebrating local produce.
To establish the idea of a food village in Lampeter linking the development in Pontfaen with the importance of healthy eating and keeping fit;
To establish a training centre in the town where the emphasis would be on introducing the public to a range of local produce and sustainable methods of cooking;
To establish local/county networks in the name of the Centre that would promote collaboration and
co-participation in the areas of food, rural tourism and enterprise;
To establish ‘food’ as a brand for the future development of Lampeter town; To increase the number of visitors
to the town throughout the year; To develop attractions in and
around the town relating to the food industry that would attract more visitors to the area;
To maximise and improve the quality of hotels and places to stay for visitors to the town and surrounding area.
Aims Objectives
Aims and Objectives
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Canolfan Tir Glas1. The Pontfaen ProposalFood villageExhibitionsSporting and Community facilityThe Pontfaen development is an exciting opportunity to create a new commercial venture that will help bring Lampeter back to life and drive economic growth in the area. It will be a starting point for realising a bold vision for the town, enabling the University and other interested parties to apply for significant funding from both regional and national funds in future years.
- work closely with Aldi to establish a food village on the site where there will be an opportunity to showcase and celebrate local food produce;
- work closely with Aldi to complement the local food offering and opportunities for collaboration and increased employment opportunities.
- invest in the pavilion – a grade 2 listed building
- ensuring that it will be seen as a civic place and a community resource in the
future; - invest in a high quality
training centre for local food and produce in Lampeter town centre;
- further invest in the annual Food Festival held on the University grounds;
- invest in a permanent home for Canolfan Tir Glas on the University campus;
- upgrade the remaining playing field at Pontfaen which will be for the use of University students and local sports clubs.
The Pontfaen development will enable the University to:
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Improved multi-purpose grassed pitch to accommodate rugby and football
Existing Listed pavilion to be extensively refurbished to form a community hub for the Food Village and sport/recreation uses.
Existing site entrance converted to shared pedestrian footpath and cycle way. (No vehicular access)
Proposed Aldi foodstore and associated parking
Primary pedestrian access
Electric charging points for community and visitor use
Informal routes delineated by short cut grass
0 50 75 100 m
Scale 1:1000 at A3
Shared site access to foodstore, multi-purpose pavilion and sports pitch, recreation space and Food Village
Event and exhibition pods linked with the food and nutrition industry to showcase Welsh produce to coincide with associated academic activities
New pedestrian access in south-east corner linking to leisure centre. (No vehicular access)
Existing bellmouth removed and footpath raised
PARKING PROVISION
Foodstore
119no. (INC. 7no STAFF SPACES)
P o n t f a e n R o a d
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PROPOSED MASTERPLAN
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- bridging between the University and the local community;
- providing accredited courses in the fields of food and hospitality;
- providing work experience for students of the proposed University of Gastronomy;
- attracting visitors to the town from near and far;
- developing and maintaining local networks in the fields of food and hospitality;
- providing cookery courses and exhibitions to the local community with a focus on local produce;
- holding master classes whereby it would be possible to attract nationally and internationally renowned chefs to Lampeter to talk about their craft;
- sharing information about local businesses focused on food and drink production;
- displaying and selling locally produced food;- engaging with Coleg Ceredigion and Ysgol Bro
Pedr ensuring appropriate provision/ training for their students who are considering a career in food and hospitality;
- supporting the intention of establishing Lampeter as a centre with national expertise in the field of food.
Canolfan Tir Glas2. Town Centre Restaurant,Retail and Training Hub
With the sale of the piece of land to Aldi, the University would be eager to invest financially in a further venture in Lampeter town centre. The intention would be to work with businesses or organisations in the town to establish a high quality training centre in the field of local food and produce. This development will be a means of:
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The Centre will house:
- offices and lecture rooms of varying sizes;- new micro-businesses that will focus on
regenerating the rural economy;- conferences of national and international status in
the field of sustainability in its broadest sense; - An Enterprise Hub that will support and advise
those wishing to set up a business locally;- a University of Gastronomy that will offer training of
international quality in food and cooking;- Wales Centre for Resilience and Harmony that
will offer training and advice on how to develop resilience in various contexts with a clear focus on implementing sustainable approaches at all times.
Canolfan Tir Glas’ headquarters will be located in a refurbished building on the University campus subject to external grant-funding. The aim is to see the Centre offering a range of qualifications in areas such as business and enterprise, food, rural tourism and hospitality by the academic year 2022/23 and thereby supporting Ceredigion County Council’s Economic Strategy and the strategic priorities of the Mid Wales Growth Deal.
Canolfan Tir Glas3. Campus HeadquartersEnterprise HubLearning and ResearchWales Centre forResilience andHarmony
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It is emphasised that Ceredigion has ‘many unique qualities and it is important that we celebrate these qualities and use them to build new opportunities.’ It is further emphasised that Ceredigion will be seen to grow in confidence ‘as it increasingly uses its assets – natural, physical and people – to develop and grow the economy.’ The County Council recognises that its ability to generate economic growth will depend to a large extent ‘on having a motivated, multi-skilled workforce to work in the enterprises that will drive that growth’. It is highlighted that the need for close collaboration between the local education service, the further
education college, the universities and local training initiatives is more important than ever.
The Council notes that over 7000 Ceredigion residents are now employed in the tourism, food and hospitality industries. Similarly, the Growing Mid Wales Partnership recognises that 6.6% of employment in Ceredigion and Powys is associated with the sale of food or drink (compared to 5.8% across the UK) while there has been an increase of 11.5% in employment related to the food industry in Mid Wales between 2010 and 2017 (compared to the 9.9% increase seen across Wales over the same period.)
Looking to the future, therefore, it is clear that rural tourism and the food industry will have key roles to play in the process of regenerating and boosting Ceredigion’s economy.
With the impact of Covid-19 weighing heavily on us for years to come, people will be more likely than ever to invest in holidays in rural areas, where they will feel safe, healthy and contented, far from the pollution of the big cities and towns.
On this basis, Ceredigion’s economy should benefit greatly from its geographical location, natural resources and welcoming nature.
Why this development? In its current Corporate Plan, Ceredigion County Council has identified ‘boosting the economy’ as its top priority. The County Council’s new Economic Strategy outlines how it intends to achieve that, and underlines the close relationship between economic prosperity and the county’s natural assets.
The Growing Mid Wales Partnership recognises this by noting that there is a real opportunity ‘to utilise our natural assets and resources to develop a unique selling point that strengthens tourism in the region.’ It further underlines that ‘Mid Wales has higher levels of sustainable practice built on the strengths of our natural and institutional assets – offering the opportunity for the region to excel in tourism focused on sustainability, the circular economy, in addition to supporting health and wellbeing actions.’
By being involved in local discussions, considering comments from community groups and considering a number of recently published
regional economic strategies, UWTSD has identified specific opportunities to contribute to the County Council’s strategic priorities over the next decade.
The establishment of Canolfan Tir Glas in 2021 will enable it to contribute to the regeneration of Lampeter town and become a catalyst for a range of associated developments across the area.
Looking to the future, there is potential to link the proposed food village – with its emphasis on healthy eating and on the richness of local food products – with a new development in the field of sport, fitness and physical education, where Lampeter would act as a central
hub for the whole of Ceredigion and be home to its county and regional teams. With a little initiative, the land between Ysgol Bro Pedr and Pontfaen fields can easily be envisaged as home to a sports village that would include quality playing fields, a 4G training pitch, an indoor bowling centre and a dedicated running track.
CampusHeadquarters
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Town Centre Restaurant, Retailand Training Hub
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The types of benefits that might be expected from realising the vision are noted below, which include:
• offering a long-term solution to the economic development of Lampeter and the surrounding area;
• creating around fifty new quality jobs in three different places in Lampeter town;
• having a positive impact on employment elsewhere in the town;
• raising the profile of Lampeter as a regional food centre;
• attracting more visitors to the town, thus boosting the local economy;
• supporting local businesses involved in the food and hospitality industries;
• strengthening the relationship between the town and the University;
• establishing a working relationship between the University and Food Centre Wales in Horeb;
• offering a range of specific educational qualifications in Ceredigion for the first time;
• providing local education and training for those wishing to remain in Ceredigion;
• establishing relevant networks where businesses can support each other;
• establishing a clear focus for the future marketing and promotion of Lampeter town and district;
• promoting new micro-businesses within the food industry;
• securing further investment in the Lampeter Food Festival;
• securing alternative funding and support for community events from Aldi;
• stimulating further economic activity in and around the town relating to the food and hospitality industry;
• attracting national attention to Lampeter together with external funding for other food industry related projects within a rural context;
• stimulating other developments in the town that could have a focus on sport, health, wellbeing and fitness.
The partnership with the County Council will be key and what is proposed will need to align closely with its strategic priorities for the next decade and beyond. Similarly, the Centre will need the fullest support of the Growing Mid Wales Partnership, ensuring that its aims and objectives meet some of the priorities of the whole region. By establishing these partnerships and through strategic collaboration between them, Canolfan Tir Glas could be a significant development for both the University and the town of Lampeter.
BenefitsIf the vision outlined above is to be realised, the University will be required to establish a strategic partnership with several partners in Ceredigion and beyond.
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Contact details
Gwilym Dyfri Jones Provost of Lampeter and Carmarthen Campuses
Emyr Jones Head of Estates Development
Hywel Davies Research, Innovation and Enterprise Office
CanolfanTir Glas
