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Lighting Guide For Gower.

Some four years ago a member of the AONB team, Rhianne Howells, put together a draft lighting guide for the City and County of Swansea. Rhianne left the team but Richard Beale (AONB Team Leader) completed and finally presented the draft to the Gower Forum where it was enthusiastically received by the Members. Gordon Howe who represents the Society on the Gower Forum emphasised the need to progress the draft. As a result, one of Bryan Graham’s last achievements prior to retiring as Head of Planning for SC&C, was to see that this Guide was channelled and approved by the Council Committee in October 2010.

It is called the Lighting Guidance for Gower AONB and it recognises the need to control the spread of light pollution in this rural area. Anyone who has spent a night on Gower will be aware of the orange glow from the East and North of the peninsula that in effect comes from the urban areas of Swansea and Lllanelli. The West is a different matter because it retains the unspoilt blackness of the night and the full panorama of the night sky can be appreciated without the glow of light pollution. Gower is classified as a Tranquil Area nationally in the UK and possibly the first such area travelling West through Wales.

The City and County has already helped to reduce the spread of upward pollution by replacing old street lamps with a new sharp cut off design. The results are staggering and we hope that many other individuals will follow the Council’s lead on this. Look out for them from the Mayals to Rhossili! Regrettably there are still a number of light polluters who we hope will eventually be persuaded (or forced?) to change their lighting; Scurlage Surgery and Chemists, the Countryman in Scurlage (these show even worse since the CCS changed the street lights) , the Egg Farm at Kittle, The Gower Inn, the airport car-park, the caravan site access at Broughton and a large number of other caravan sites are what we would consider as over-lit. Let us hope that the new Guide will be enforced and the good example of the City and County of Swansea will be followed. Access to the Lighting Guide through the City and County of Swansea/Planning web site is straight forward.
Gower AONB lighting guide

 

Draft Design Guide For Gower

The Society has been pressing for a Design Guide for Gower for a very long time (it would be embarrassing to state for how long but it is 'many years'). Most other AONBs have such guides and we believe that they fulfil a most important role in ensuring that building design is complementary to the AONB landscape. Once again it was one of the former Head of Planning’s last achievements prior to his retirement in 2010. It was repeatedly pressed for by the Society in The Gower Forum, Chaired by Cabinet Member Cllr John Hague and we are indebted to Cllr Hague and Bryan Graham for the Guide being commissioned in the first place.

The Society has looked at the Draft Guide and has made a number of constructive comments and made suggestions as to how it might be improved. We have to say that the Draft is much more detailed than other examples that we have seen for English AONBs (this we think the length may be a problem) but it is very comprehensive, particularly on barn conversions and older building restoration and extension. The draft was prepared by Consultants, employed by the CCS to produce the document, and they have successfully prepared similar guides for other AONBs in the UK. Watch this space or the CCS web site to see (hopefully) when it is approved.
Gower AONB Building Design Guide

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