Accelerating Community-Led Climate Action: Partneriaeth Ogwen

As part of CT Week, I met with Huw Davies at Partneriaeth Ogwen to discuss community-led climate action. Partneriaeth Ogwen is a social enterprise in Bethesda in the beautiful Ogwen valley in North Wales. It offers a wide variety of services to the local population and visitors to the area.  Following research carried out by the chief officer Meleri Davies in 2018/2019, transport poverty was discovered to be a challenge in the community. Over the course of the following five years, they built up their fleet of electric vehicles and now have 5 operating in the community – a combination of an MPV, a van, an estate car and two minibuses.

 The funding has come from various sources, including the National Lottery People and Places grants to the Welsh government, and their most recent bus was funded by Ynni Ogwen Cif, a community-owned hydro scheme. They also have 12 electric bikes for hire and this service featured recently on Coast and Country.

I asked Huw what the benefits of going green were. He said that they were helping in the fight to limit climate change and protecting their community for the next generations. The solar panels and hydro energy are also owned by the community so there is a big commitment by everyone across the board to make it work.  

For those taking their first steps into green transport, talk to the operators in Wales who are already doing it and CTA Wales. Anything is possible and if communities can harness their own fuel and storage as well then it’s a complete circle involving everyone. They are also part of the CoMo UK scheme www.como.org.uk  which is a national charity for shared transport.  

The community reaction to the electric fleet has been hugely positive. People comment on the quietness of the vehicles and how much easier it is to have a conversation with each other on a journey.  The minibus drivers really enjoy driving the vehicles as well. There have been challenges to charging them when they’re out and about – especially on long-distance trips, but that is improving, as is the mileage range of the vehicles themselves.  

It has made many in the community adjust their own behaviour. Instead of having two cars for example, they can now use the car, and the van owned by Partneriaeth Ogwen, which is available for hire through the Hiya platform. This means there are fewer privately owned cars on the roads, and of course, there are cost benefits as well to families where they don’t have to have two vehicles anymore.    

Huw said: ‘We can’t think short term about the expense of electric vehicles, ultimately we are investing in the future of our community, so we need to be bold in our decisions and actions, showing that the community transport sector is at the forefront of change’.