Sustainable Economic Growth in Snowdonia

As a rural area in a relatively isolated part of the UK, Snowdonia's £60 million economy relies upon public services, tourism and agriculture. These (and other smaller industries) provide the income for the working population of Snowdonia's 26,000 residents.

The Snowdonia National Park Authority believes that the area is economically underperforming. Farming and tourism are both relatively low income, and tourism is also seasonal meaning that it cannot always provide a reliable income. When combined with an increase in house prices due to wealthier retirees moving into the area and more houses being bought as second holiday homes, more young people are leaving Snowdonia to study and seek work in the UK's major cities. This means that Snowdonia's long term economic prospects are unsustainable; there won't be enough people to fill existing jobs and there aren't enough well paying jobs to attract people there.

As a result, the Snowdonia National Park Management Plan seeks to improve and diversify the economy of the area to provide more jobs and opportunities to its residents and improve the sustainability of its economy. However, this has the potential to create conflict between the needs of conservation and development.

Enterprise Zones

An Enterprise Zone is an area that tries to attract businesses to locate there by offering a range of incentives such as tax breaks and other financial and practical support. Enterprise Zones are typically established in areas that are struggling economically and would benefit from new businesses and job opportunities.

Wales has a total of seven Enterprise Zones across the country, each focusing upon particular industries. Due to its economic underperformance, Snowdonia is home to one of these Enterprise Zones. The Snowdonia Enterprise Zone was established in 2014 and is split between two sites:

• Trawsfynydd (the site of a decommissioned nuclear power station);
• Llanbedr Aviation Centre and Enterprise Park (the site of a former RAF base).

Although the development of new business areas within the Snowdonia National Park may seem in conflict the conservation aims of the National Park, both of these sites were developed for their original purpose before or just after the creation of the National Park in 1951.

As a result, both of these sites have been developed for over 60 years and development of new businesses on these two sites is less likely to interfere with the conservation and appearance of the landscape than elsewhere. Trawsfynydd nuclear power station has become such a part of the landscape over the last 60 years that an attempt was even made to preserve the two concrete towers of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in 2009 as an example of 20th Century architecture. Would the demolition of this concrete structure create a battle between conservationists and developers?

Enterprise Zone Site 1: Trawsfynydd

The Trawsfynydd site was first developed as a hydroelectric power station in 1924, then in 1959 a nuclear power station was also built at the location. The hydroelectric power station is still operational, but the nuclear power station stopped generating electricity in 1991 and began the process of being decommissioned. Decommissioning is a process that enables a nuclear power station to safely shut down and takes many years. As a result, the nuclear power station provided 500 jobs which will be lost during 2016 when the decommissioning process completes.

Trawsfynydd was designated as an Enterprise Zone site to help replace the 500 jobs that will be lost when the nuclear power station completes its decommissioning process. It is being promoted as a centre for developing renewable and low carbon energy sources by the Welsh government.

At the end of 2015, the UK government made £250 million available for a five year research and development project for small scale nuclear reactors. The Trawsfynydd site has been promoted as an ideal location for such a project due to its history as a nuclear power station and the presence of a skilled local workforce. By May 2016, there were 38 different companies from across the world expressing an interest in using Trawsfynydd for developing these new nuclear reactors, although at time of writing, no decision has been made as to how the site will be developed.

Nuclear energy has been considered as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels since it produces large quantities of electricity and there are no carbon emissions as a result of its electricity production. However, the potential redevelopment of the site for nuclear energy research is likely to result in considerable environmental opposition due to concerns about the safety of nuclear power.

The implications of this possible business direction for the Trawsfynydd site raise interesting questions regarding the tension between conservation and development in the National Park and its commitment to sustainability, both at an economic and environmental level.

Enterprise Zone Site 2: Llanbedr Aviation Centre and Enterprise Park

Wales is promoting itself as a leading location for the Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) industry, which focuses around the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or 'drones' as they are more commonly known, for military, commercial and scientific purposes. A 7,100 square kilometre airspace has been created over the Irish Sea to the West of Wales for the testing of UAVs. Llanbedr Aviation Centre and Enterprise Park is one of two centres in Wales for testing UAVs in a project run by a company called QinetiQ. Clients of Qinetiq and the Aviation Centre have included the Ministry of Defence, weapons company BAE Systems and Manchester University. As of 2015, there were 12 businesses located at the Llanbedr Aviation Centre employing 50 people, with an expectation of further growth.

To date, the only opposition to the development of airfield for UAV testing has been from anti-war protestors against the testing of military UAVs; there have been no publicly recorded environmental concerns. For more information on the UAS testing in Wales, see the link below:

The creation of the dedicated UAS airspace over the Irish Sea may partly explain a lack of protest against UAV testing as the UAVs are less likely to be flown over Snowdonia and therefore face objections. However, the success of the UAS industry could result in further expansion of the Llanbedr site (see the video above).

This could create a tension between the need for jobs and the growth of the Snowdonia economy and the environmental and social impacts of increasing the size and scale of the Aviation Centre and Enterprise Park. These impacts would include the construction of new buildings and the increase of air and road traffic.

In 2014, the UK government announced a competition to select a location for Europe's first commercial spaceport and to have it operational by 2018. Llanbedr Aviation Centre was one of the locations under consideration until May 2016, when the government decided to scrap the competition and announced plans to change the law so that any suitable location could apply to be a space port so long as it complied with the necessary regulations.

Whether Llanbedr will try to be reinvented as a spaceport remains to be seen. However, during the 2014-2016 competition, there was some strong environmental opposition to the proposal to use Llanbedr as a spaceport, despite the obvious economic opportunities that it offers. For further details, see the article below:

Note: Link to GCSE Exam Specification

This case study was written to support the 2016+ Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Geography A Specification, specifically Topic 8.3a: "Approaches to conservation and development of UK National Parks" (p.30 in the specification).