Cwm Cynfal: A significant development

If you’ve been following our emails and social media closely, you’ll already know that we have been planning to take Eryri National Park  Authority (ENPA) to Judicial Review for the first time in our 60-year history.  After a huge amount of preparation, we filed the papers to begin the process in August and were expecting the process to continue well into 2027.

However, in late September, we were unexpectedly informed by our legal team that ENPA had conceded that one of our legal arguments against the decision was arguable – and that the decision to grant planning permission for the hydro-electric scheme at Cwm Cynfal was potentially unlawful and should be quashed.  It’s important to emphasise that they haven’t accepted the majority of our arguments, but they don’t have to – and this will make no difference to our ability to use those arguments in future.

What happens next?

Once ENPA has addressed the specific legal point under consideration, we expect the application to come back to the Planning & Access Committee broadly as previously – and perhaps as soon as 25 November.  (We’ll keep everyone updated as best we can.)  If the vote goes the same way for a second time, it’s highly probable that we’ll make a second application for Judicial Review.

We still need your help!

Whilst we should be able to recover a portion of our legal costs incurred to date, we think this is unlikely to cover the full amount – and there’s every chance that further legal costs will need to be incurred in the ongoing fight for Cwm Cynfal’s future; particularly if we cannot persuade ENPA’s decision-makers to change their mind.  We have already raised over £17,000 from some amazing supporters – see justgiving.com/campaign/cwm-cynfal for what they’ve written – and we’re grateful for every penny raised so far.

If you’re still able to donate, please do so – the costs associated with a full Judicial Review would be likely to amount to over £60,000, and we may yet need the full amount.  If we’re lucky enough to raise more than we need in the short term, we’ll create a ‘fighting fund’ to support our opposition to inappropriate development in Eryri – prioritising, of course, Cwm Cynfal itself.

Thank you

For now, thank you for your ongoing support – especially if you have already contributed to our Cwm Cynfal fundraising,  We wish we could thank each of you individually, but we didn’t set up the JustGiving page in such a way that we could do so – oops!  Learning for next time – but please know how appreciated you are.