Timeless Eryri valley where fierce battle is raging for National Park's soul

Time has moved slowly in an Eryri valley beneath the Migneint’s moorland. Cwm Cynfal has some of the national park’s oldest houses and its last free-flowing river. At times, life here seems to have barely moved on since 1523 when an oak tree was felled to build Cwm Farm, one of several cruck-framed buildings constructed to endure Eryri’s harsh climate.

At the head of the valley is a towering waterfall that has beguiled artists, tourists and naturalists. Rhaeadr y Cwm plunges 500ft from the desolate Migneint down a gorge so narrow it seems to embrace the water. The surroundings may be spectacular but they have also become a battleground – one that is pitching progessive farmers against heritage and environmental campaigners in a fight for the national park’s soul.

Three farming brothers from Bala, Dafydd, Elis and Moi, want to build a dam to divert around 70% of the waterfall’s flow for a hydro-electric scheme. They have plenty of high-profile backers, claiming it will support carbon-zero targets and provide cheaper energy in an area suffering energy poverty.

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But some residents living in the valley are vehemently opposed, arguing the hydro scheme will blight the iconic waterfall and leave scars on the countryside. Championing their cause is Cymdeithas Eryri (Snowdonia Society), a conservation charity which said it supports hydro if sited in the right places. Of 135 hydro applications in Eryri (Snowdonia) in six years, it has opposed just seven, including a scheme at Conwy Falls, and raised concerns about five more.

Society director Rory Francis said: “Cwm Cynfal is a place that has inspired storytellers, artists and poets over a millennium. This is a landscape associated with the tales of the Mabinogion and also famously depicted by David Cox in 1836 in his iconic painting Rhaiadr Cwm.

“It is one of Eryri’s most majestic waterfalls. But now it is being threatened once again.Not just that, the gorge is highly protected under wildlife legislation. It’s designated for the rare mosses and liverworts that can be found there.

“If you divert that much water out of the waterfall, this will change the very wet conditions that make the gorge so special. We’re concerned about the visual appearance, the sound and impressiveness of the waterfall, the wildlife that lives in the gorge and also the damage to this very historic site with its medieval trackways.” Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now

Hydro plans at Cwm Cynfal have been refused or withdrawn three times previously. In July the developers formally submitted another application with a September 20 deadline for objections.

This followed a pre-application consultation in late 2023 which saw 359 individuals or organisations take part. Of these, 276 opposed the application and only three supported it, said Mr Francis. He added: “We strongly support the need to decarbonise the economy. But with any renewable energy scheme, you have to weigh the damage against the benefits. This scheme would produce relatively little electricity, enough to power just 60 power showers.”

At a public drop-in event at Llan Ffestiniog Village Hall in February, opinions swayed the other way. Of 24 questionnaires completed, only one person objected to the scheme and no one suggested improvements. The applicants claim most PAC objections were from members of two campaign groups.

Scheme backers include farming influencer Gareth Wyn Jones from Llanfairfechan, Conwy. Online, he wrote: “It’s a shame that environmentalists don’t want local farmers to secure a future for their family farm by developing a small hydro scheme.”

The three brothers combined their initials to create their company’s name MED Dafydd. Their hydro scheme is proposing to be part of Energy Local, a community interest company based in North Wales that enables communities to buy locally generated energy at a price fair.

Following previous concerns, the brothers commissioned an environmental impact assessment which, they said, gave them the confidence to move forward in the belief there will be “minimal negative impact”. In a letter, they wrote: “We have invested a substantial amount of personal time and money. (We) are truly passionate that the proposed scheme can integrate into the environment whilst also safeguarding all natural and built features, from construction through to operational stage.

“Given the current need for diversification in the agricultural sector, this proposed scheme will provide security for future generations as well as allowing us as a family to play a part in tackling the current climate crisis by generating electricity from a renewable source for the local community to use.”

'It scares me, it really does'

Near Cwm Farm, a clapper bridge crosses Afon Cynfal. It’s surrounded by fields with ancient names like Y Crofft, Murie Gwynion, Y Ddol, Cae Adwy’r Ddol – all still in current use. It was in Cwm Cynfal that beautiful Blodeuedd was fashioned from broom, meadowsweet and oak, her story told in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi.

15th century farmhouses, several now listed, run up to the steep-side valley from the Dyrwd estuary, showing how prosperous the area once was. It is this sense of timelessness, and its potential disruption, that worries some people living nearby. One, a former local government lawyer, said: “It’s a raw place, undeveloped other than a copper mine dug 200 years ago. It’s beautiful, precious and special place with a SSSI on the top.

“The waterfall and river is a wildlife corridor for otters and water voles, while peregrine falcons nest on crags above. Humidity-loving bryophytes won’t survive if 70% of the water flow is taken. They say no one will notice the hydro scheme once it’s finished but there will be a turbine house and permanent road where one isn’t currently there.

“This is one of Eryri’s last major waterfalls without a hydro scheme, sitting on the last free-flowing river without a weir or hydro. The absence of obstacles makes the river very efficient at removing water from the Migneint. There’s something special and magical about a river in such an unspoiled state.”

The Migneint SAC lies outside the proposed site and so will be unaffected. Following concerns raised by Natural Resources Wales about the gorge’s moisture-loving bryophytes – liverworts, hornworts, and mosses – an environment impact assessment (EIA) examined the issue.

In the absence of a woodland canopy, the EIA said local topography was the most important factor in creating a humid microclimate in Cwm Cynfal. An expert concluded that “mist zones do not have any substantial influence at this site on the survival of desiccation-sensitive bryophytes.”

The nearby objector is also concerned about the use of a medieval track to construct the dam and lay pipes to divert water. It’s a dead-end track leading down to fields at the end of a wooded corridor that’s part of the Meirionnydd rainforest, and forms part of the Snowdonia Slate Trail.

In places, the track is just 1.2 metres wide where it runs up the ravine. “If you fall here, you will die,” said the 72-year-old resident, who asked not to be named. “Yet this is where they want to dig up the landscape to lay pipes. They want to put concrete down, lay plastic pipes and build a 80 square metre turbine house with breezeblocks just 200 metres from my home. It’s a small hydro scheme with big buildings and a lot of construction in a wild landscape that will leave water flow at a trickle.

“They want to build 3.6-metre wide road in a six-metre construction corridor, part of which runs over the old copper mine. To build it at least 0.5 metres deep they will need to dig it out or even blast through the rock. Get all the latest Gwynedd news by signing up to our newsletter - sent every Tuesday

"There’s a huge risk of the mine adits collapsing and thousands of tonnes of rock tumbling into the ravine, taking with it anyone who happens to be there at the time. It scares me, it really does.” Scores of reports have been commissioned by the applicants to address such concerns.

A geotechnical assessment by GroundSolve Ltd was carried out for the applicants looking at the stability of both the copper mine and the B4391 road. It noted that a large, 5m-deep rock cutting is proposed near the pipeline intake. This will need to undertaken by “mechanical means”, though excavating harder rock may require other techniques such as "controlled trench blasting".

As the mine adit was cut in solid bedrock 19 metres below the track surface, GroundSolve’s engineers concluded this posed no risk to the scheme’s works. However, to address potential vulnerabilities of an infilled vertical shaft leading to the surface, it is proposed to excavate the shaft and cap it using a reinforced concrete slab.

Even without the concrete slab, risks are considered low. But engineers said capping the shaft would also protect walkers using the footpath as this “currently experiences the same level of risk from shaft collapse as does the proposed scheme.” Once the pipe is laid, full reinstatement is promised with no lasting visual impacts.

'Most people won't know it's there'

In operation, the hydro scheme would be capable of producing up to 2m kWh annually, supplying 700 homes with electricity and potentially saving almost 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has already granted a water abstraction licence.

Ffestiniog Town Council has confirmed its support. So too has Dwyfor Meirionnydd MS Mabon ap Gwynfor, who said: “This project is exactly the type of initiative we need to support, ensuring cheaper energy for around 700 homes in a deprived area suffering from fuel poverty. This project deserves support.”

Backers believe progression can be balanced with conservation. Another high-profile backer is Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts, who said the site’s environmental sensitivities had been well documented by experts. She added: “The Authority has approved several hydro schemes in the area during the past 20 years and they have blended into the landscape of Eryri, with the majority of the public not even aware of their existence.”

Yet some conservations are unconvinced. The Snowdonia Society has partnered with Save Our Rivers, Buglife and the North Wales Wildlife Trust (NWWT) to object to the scheme, encouraging its members to do likewise. To date, 467 letters of objection have been sent to the National Park ahead of the September 20 deadline.

Adrian Lloyd Jones, NWWT’s head of living landscapes, said the proposed scheme poses “far too great a risk” to the wildlife of Cwm Cynfal. “Whilst we support green energy, all developments must be in the right place, and this proposal is clearly in the wrong place,” he added. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox

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