An established 40-strong Craft Group based at Kilgetty and Begelly Community Centre has expressed its frustration at 16-months of delays in readying cabins for community use: delays caused by “our community minded Co-op.”

Next to the Community Centre is the Kilgetty and Begelly Men’s Shed. However, numbers of people attending meetings of the group are limited by the size of the building.

In 2019, Kilgetty and Begelly Rural Futures, a newly-established community group, agreed to seek funding through the National Lottery Charities Board for cabins to house both the Men’s Shed and Craft Group together with other community initiatives. As a result, a grant was secured to upgrade two shipping containers into fully equipped work spaces for community use and landscape a small parcel of land behind the community centre.

The cabins were sited on land owned by Kilgetty and Begelly Community Council in February 2024. Since then, the Rural Futures Group has encountered one problem after another, each leading to further delays in readying the cabins for community use.

Rural Futures Group Secretary Wendy Morse, who has run the craft group for the past six years, echoed the views of the rest of the group when she said: “The last 16 months have been particularly frustrating as we had hoped to be up and running in the cabins over a year ago.”

“Our biggest challenges have come from the need to connect essential services (water, electricity and sewage) and gain the relevant permissions from adjacent land owners so that contractors can undertake the work.”

The Co-operative Society owns the land the community centre is on, the public toilets, the car park, the doctor’s surgery and the old information centre. The original plan for the cabin’s drainage and waste water was a connection to the adjacent toilet block and waste water outlet. However, this proved not to be viable, so the Rural Futures group sought permission to connect with services on the other side of the Co-op owned car park adjacent to the community centre.

“Following numerous approaches to the Co-operative Society and their agents, our group is waiting for the necessary permissions or wayleave rights that would enable for the work to be undertaken and the cabins be made available for community use,” Wendy said.

“Problems continued when it came to seeking an electricity supply from the community centre, a building leased by the Co-operative Society to the Community Council and Community Association. Concerns over ‘future liabilities’ meant that the group has been forced to seek different and more expensive options to connect an electricity supply to the cabins.”

The group recently met with The National grid and asked them if they would liaise with Dwr Cymru to get the trenches for water and electric done at the same time: “Co-op wants to charge £3,000+ for solicitor fees and surveyors which could be for each service if work done separately.

“Despite the frustratingly drawn-out process, the Rural Futures Group is committed to opening the new facilities as soon as possible.”