with Paul Jennings, OPD smallholder and self-builder. (Part 1)
Paul Jennings lives on a smallholding in Pembrokeshire with his family, and built his own straw-bale home under the One-Planet Development policy that exists in Wales (but not in England), that allows people to build a home on their land, even if it is outside the development zone, if they can show that they will live with an ecological footprint of one planet or less.
Highlights
1. The One Planet Development policy allows people to build a home on their smallholding in the open countryside as long as they can show that they will live with a one-planet footprint or less.
2. The policy has worked better for people with money. The problem is the market in land, especially speculation on land prices near to towns – the best place for smallholdings to be located, so that they can provide produce to uran areas.
3. Most smallholdings are smaller than 8 hectares, but government subsidies and grants only kick in for holdings over 8 hectares. This needs to change if we’re going to encourage more smallholdings.