Two friends saved their local river – helped by a progressive clothing firm. By
Boudicca Fox-Leonard
Conwy Falls in Snowdonia: a trout and salmon migratory route surrounded by Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and a treasured beauty spot that won UK Landmark of the Year in 2017.
It is also one of the best rivers in the country for whitewater kayaking, which is what brought both Dan Yates and Tom Laws to the area more than 20 years ago.
Six years ago they were on familiar terms through the thriving outdoor sports community in North Wales; today they stand shoulder to shoulder next to the torrent of water, acutely aware of how their work has changed the course of the river’s story.
In 2013 they learned of a plan to build a £12 million hydro power scheme 400m upstream from the falls. As much as 75 per cent of the fast-flowing upland water would have been diverted into a 900m tunnel, leaving the river bed a trickle.
It seemed unbelievable at the time that the National Trust, which owns the land in Snowdonia National Park, would allow German energy company RWE Innogy to go ahead with a plan in such a well-known beauty spot, important for both biodiversity and tourism. Indeed, Laws recalls that his first thought was: “That’s ridiculous, it’s never going to happen.”
Except that it had already happened to rivers in the area, and the scheme was marked for pre-approval. “We realised that unless we did something it was set to cruise through the planning process,” says Yates.
The Conwy scheme, he believes, was part of “a drive to build any renewable at any cost in any location, regardless of how little power would be produced as a result.” In this case, it was just shy of five megawatts, thereby allowing an energy company to use a tariff subsidy designed to help people put solar panels on their roofs. “It seemed bizarre, really. The Conwy scheme was going to generate, at peak flow, which is a third of the year, approximately the same as a medium offshore wind turbine. Yet it was set to have an enormous effect on a very specific piece of land.”
Thus began a three-year campaign, that turned Yates, 42, an optometrist, and Laws, 32, a chemistry teacher, into the seasoned environmental activists they are today. Theirs wasn’t the kind of protesting that involved placards and demonstrations. Instead, says Yates, it was more about encouraging people to use the voice they already had.
“In the UK we have loads of really good processes around planning and consultations, but things get through because people don’t feel they can access them.”
So Yates waded through pages of planning applications, converting the jargon into digestible summaries that could be shared by Laws on social media. They encouraged people to write letters, not simply filling in templates, but ensuring each one was different enough so as to be impossible to ignore.
They took the process out of closed planning meetings and demanded public consultation. It took up their time, energy and funds, all of which were in short supply.
“I thought about what I would do if we lost,” says Yates. “And I was going to move away. Partly because I’m a really bad loser, but mostly because there would have been a 70m-wide, 2m-high concrete dam all the way across the river.”
Then in 2014, midway through their campaign, they were contacted by the clothing brand Patagonia. Yates admits his first reaction was a little cynical, saying: “All I knew was that Patagonia made jackets that I couldn’t afford.”
The company had heard about the campaign and wanted to visit Conwy. Yates thought little more of it until he got a phone call a week later. “They said, ‘You should run a press ad and we’ll pay for it,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, great!’”
Such action is unusual for a global brand, but is part of the US company’s DNA. Patagonia and its founder Yvon Chouinard have a 45-year history of activism. So far, through its giving programme called One Percent for the Planet, which pledges one per cent of profits to grassroots environmental organisations, it has donated $100million (£80million) around the world.
For Yates and Laws, two grants
‘In the UK we have loads of really good planning processes, but people don’t feel they can access them’