Welsh farming family fights back against threat of eviction
Gethin Jenkins (right) with his son and daughter-in-law, Rhys and Kelly Jenkins, and their daughters, Ffion and Freya © Gareth Williams A third-generation tenant farmer has made a direct plea to the owner of his farm to ditch plans to build a giant business park on his fields and force him off the land.
Gethin Jenkins farms 81ha Model Farm at Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan with his son, Rhys, where they grow arable crops, produce beef from their suckler herd and run a seed business, Wild Wales Seeds.
But their livelihoods are under threat because landowner Legal and General has been given outline planning permission to develop warehousing and offices on the farm, which is near to Cardiff airport.
See also: Tenant farmer told to leave for council’s solar farm plans
Mr Jenkins, whose grandfather was awarded the tenancy in the 1930s, is appealing to the company to scrap the plan.
“These fields are important for food production and for wildlife,” he said. “The area doesn’t need another business park.”
Mr Jenkins told Farmers Weekly that the area already had ample brownfield sites for development and some business units that were already built were standing empty.
He knew nothing of the planned development until he was invited with other villagers to view the draft local development plan at the village hall and saw the farm had been submitted for inclusion. “It was like a kick in the stomach,” he said.
Community support
The local community is rallying around the family and a fundraising campaign has been launched to help appeal Vale of Glamorgan County Council’s decision to grant planning permission.
Politicians are also giving their support. The leader of the Welsh Conservative Group at the Senedd, Andrew RT Davies, described the development as “bad for farming, bad for the environment and bad for the family who are losing their livelihood”.
Legal and General insists the project has a “strategic role to play in delivering wider economic, social and environmental benefits”, including the capacity to accommodate 3,000 jobs.
The company intends to demolish existing buildings, level the site and build the infrastructure.