FAQs
Rydym wedi derbyn nifer o gwestiynau yn ystod y misoedd diwethaf ac rydym wedi rhoi cynnig ar eu hateb isod.
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Pam nad yw pethau'n digwydd eto?
Ar gyfer yr hen safle gwaith dur - Stori Brymbo - mae'r dreftadaeth naturiol a diwydiannol yr ydym yn ceisio ei gwarchod a'i gwella yn eiddo preifat, ac mae hynny'n golygu na allwn wario arian arno heb gydsyniad y perchennog. Ar gyfer rhai gweithgareddau mae'r caniatâd sydd ei angen ar ffurf 'trwydded' - cytundeb ffurfiol sy'n manylu ar y gwaith penodol sydd i'w wneud - ond i'r mwyafrif (gan gynnwys adfer yr hen waith a gwaith i'r goedwig ffosil) deddf trosglwyddo tir manwl mae angen cytundeb. Mae gwaith i gytuno ar drwyddedau ar gyfer gwahanol leoedd a thasgau, ac i gytuno ar y cytundeb cyfreithiol trosglwyddo tir, wedi bod yn mynd rhagddo ers 2017. Rydym nawr yn agos at gytuno ar brydles 25 mlynedd ar gyfer y safle ac unwaith y bydd hynny ar waith byddwn yn gallu dechrau gweithredu'r cynllun.
Ar gyfer yr ardal ehangach, rydym nawr yn ailddechrau gweithio trwy ein prosiect Gwreiddiau i Saethu. Er iddo gael ei oedi yn ystod y pandemig, cychwynnodd y gwaith hwn yn 2017 a bydd yn parhau hyd at 2024. Mae'n ymwneud â gwella ystod o'n mannau agored cyhoeddus cyn-ddiwydiannol, cynyddu dealltwriaeth a defnydd pobl ohonynt, cynnwys pobl i'w gwella, a chynyddu'r synnwyr. perchnogaeth cymunedau ohonynt. Edrychwch o amgylch y wefan o dan y ddewislen Roots to Shoots i ddarganfod beth sy'n digwydd.
Pam mae'r hen weithiau'n edrych mor brysglyd?
Parkhill Estates Ltd sy'n berchen ar y gwaith trwy eu his-gwmni Brymbo Developments Ltd, ac mae wedi bod er 1992. Gyda chytundeb y tirfeddiannwr, rhwng 2010 a diwedd 2019 roeddem yn gallu defnyddio rhai o'r cyfleusterau ar y safle ac adeiladu'r momentwm i ddod o hyd i ffordd gynaliadwy o adfer ac ailddefnyddio'r gweddillion. Fel rhan o hyn, treuliodd cannoedd o wirfoddolwyr filoedd o oriau yn clirio llystyfiant ac yn dod â'r lle yn fyw, er mwyn galluogi digwyddiadau fel cyfres o ddiwrnodau agored a Brymbo Rocks.
Yn ôl yn 2014 a hyd at 2017 roeddem yn gallu sicrhau £ 137k gan Cadw (y rhan o Lywodraeth Cymru sy'n gyfrifol am amgylchedd hanesyddol Cymru) a £ 27k gan Adnoddau Naturiol Cymru (hefyd yn rhan o Lywodraeth Cymru) i alluogi'r adeiladau allweddol i cael ei arbed rhag cwympo ac i ffensio oddi ar y goedwig ffosil, gwaith a ganiateir gan y tirfeddiannwr o dan drwyddedau dros dro. Fodd bynnag, heblaw am ein prosiectau perllannau a gwenyn ni fu'n bosibl i ni fod â phresenoldeb rheolaidd yn y gwaith ers mis Medi 2019. Mae hyn oherwydd na all gwaith, digwyddiadau a gweithgareddau pellach barhau oni bai bod gennym fuddiant cyfreithiol yn y safle.
Rydym bellach yn agos at gytuno ar brydles 25 mlynedd ac unwaith y bydd hynny ar waith bydd yn ein galluogi i weithredu rhaglen lawn o waith atgyweirio a throsi dros y tair blynedd nesaf, rhai gan gontractwyr a rhai trwy ymdrechion gwirfoddol newydd; byddwn hefyd yn gallu ailddechrau gweithgareddau cymunedol a chynnal y rhain trwy gydol y cyfnod o 25 mlynedd.
Beth sy'n digwydd gyda'r goedwig ffosil - mae gorchudd du arno ers oesoedd, ond dim byd mwy?
Gwnaethom sicrhau mwy na £ 128,000 gan Lywodraeth Cymru i godi adeilad ffrâm ddur i orchuddio rhan o'r goedwig ffosil yn ôl yn hwyr yn 2017. Byddai hyn yn darparu cyfleusterau i'n galluogi i gloddio'r ddaear o amgylch y mwyaf o'r ffosiliau coed a phlanhigion ac i eu hastudio a'u harddangos yn y fan a'r lle. Aethom ymlaen i sicrhau caniatâd cynllunio ar gyfer y strwythur hwn yn haf 2018, ac i benodi contractwr ym mis Ionawr 2019, ond roedd angen i ni fod â thrwydded neu brydles ar waith i'n galluogi i ddechrau'r gwaith. Disgwyliwn gyflawni'r cynllun yn gynnar yn 2022. Rydym yn parhau i weithio'n galed i sicrhau nad yw'r prosiect yn colli'r arian i gyflawni'r cam hanfodol hwn o waith a gellir ei ddefnyddio i gefnogi'r ased treftadaeth naturiol eithriadol o bwysig hwn.
Bydd y dalen ddu yn cael ei hadnewyddu eto yr hydref hwn i roi amddiffyniad rhew sylfaenol i'r ffosiliau ac mae llawer o'r sbesimenau a dynnwyd eisoes yn parhau i gael eu harchwilio'n wyddonol (gan gynnwys ym Mhrifysgol Bangor) fel rhan o waith ymchwil a pharatoi a fydd yn cefnogi Stori Brymbo ac a dealltwriaeth gyhoeddus ehangach o'r byd hynod ddiddorol 300 miliwn yn ôl. O'r hydref hwn ymlaen bydd rhaglen o sgyrsiau a darlithoedd i egluro'r goedwig ffosil a'n hanes natur lleol ymhellach - i blant ysgol, myfyrwyr a thrigolion fel ei gilydd.
Cawsoch yr arian flynyddoedd yn ôl - beth sydd wedi digwydd iddo?
Mae'r cyllid a gawsom wedi dod i mewn ar gyfer gweithgareddau penodol, a gellir gweld dadansoddiad llawn o'r £ 9.5m yr ydym wedi'i sicrhau ar gyfer y prosiect yma .
Yn gyffredinol, mae cyllidwyr yn sicrhau bod eu harian ar gael i sefydliadau fel ein un ni mewn cyfres o gamau:
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1) rydym yn amlinellu ein syniad prosiect iddynt;
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2) eu bod yn ystyried y syniad ac os ydynt yn ei hoffi, yn ein gwahodd i wneud cais llawn;
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3) eu bod yn asesu ein cais llawn, yn barnu'r risgiau a'r buddion y mae'n eu cyflwyno, ac yn cynnig cyllid;
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4) rydym yn derbyn y cynnig ac yna'n darparu tystiolaeth yn erbyn yr amodau a osodwyd ganddynt (megis profi bod gennym fuddiant cyfreithiol yn y tir, caniatâd cynllunio, cyllid cyfatebol, ac ati);
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5) yna maen nhw'n rhoi 'caniatâd i ddechrau' i ni sy'n caniatáu inni ddechrau gwario'r arian maen nhw wedi'i ddyfarnu;
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6) rydym yn hawlio'r cyllid a ddyfarnwyd, naill ai mewn taliadau llwyfan neu i ad-dalu'r gwariant a wnaethom yn ystod y mis / chwarter;
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7) mae cyllidwyr yn asesu ein cais a'n tystiolaeth ac yn gwneud y taliad nesaf;
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8) rydym yn darparu adroddiadau cynnydd cyffredinol chwarterol / bob chwe mis ac yn ymateb i unrhyw ymholiadau;
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(camau 6, 7 ac 8 yna ailadroddwch yn fisol / chwarterol nes bod y prosiect wedi'i gwblhau).
Mae'r mwyafrif helaeth o'r cyllid a ddyfarnwyd inni yn dal i fod yng ngham 4) y broses hon - sy'n golygu na fydd yr arian ar gael inni ei wario nes bod yr holl amodau'n cael eu bodloni. I ni, dod â'r cytundeb tir i ben a sicrhau caniatâd cynllunio yw'r pethau allweddol a fydd yn caniatáu inni fodloni gofynion ein cyllidwr.
I've read the investment table and the other FAQs. How is it possible that you've spent so much money with seemingly so little to show for it?
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The majority of the money we've spent so far is for 'development' work - building the case, working up the details, securing permissions, securing funding, building the team, working out the costs, considering and addressing the risks, adjusting the scope of the project to keep it achievable within its forecast budget, and so on. Only a small proportion has been for 'delivery' work - actual building works, events, activities, etc.
That's set to change as we move into the 'delivery phase' later in 2023 and beyond, but we appreciate that you might be concerned about how much has been spent already.
All of the money we've secured and spent has been the subject of intense scrutiny by the organisations providing it. The money hasn't been 'won', or been the subject of a popular vote, nor has it been provided as a 'blank cheque' for us to spend how and where we like. Rather, it's all been the result of a series of specific applications to help us on the journey towards making the project a reality.
For us to spend money from any of the grants awarded, the 'spend' must be within the 'approved purposes' of the grant that's been provided, and the actual thing we pay for (as services, as goods, or as staff costs) must be shown as being 'eligible'.
It must also be procured appropriately to ensure good value for money, and it must fall within the budget allocated for that type of expenditure (although there is often some degree of flexibility to move funds between budgets provided the expenditure in question is still eligible, is in support of the approved purposes, and is procured correctly).
For Stori Brymbo, the development stage was the subject of an application in June 2017 for £914k of costs to be covered over the three year period starting early 2018. Covid interrupted the last stages of this, but this work is all nearly concluded now, and we've achieved our 'approved purposes'.
This work has now allowed the funders to assess whether the 'good idea' they first supported nearly ten years ago is ready to get the full go-ahead or not. They said yes in-principle in March 2020 when they then set out conditions for us to meet around the conclusion of the land deal, car parking provision and planning consents. Once those are resolved, the full 'permission to start' will allow us to start the 'delivery stage', unlocking the remaining funding to make it all happen.
'Delivery' funding allows the remaining technical design work to go ahead, which in turn leads to the building works going through an open tender process, through which we can appoint one or more contractors, so we can then do the actual building works that are agreed. It also allows funding to be released to allow us to pay staff, cover overhead and activities costs, and so on to engage people as we move forward towards opening.
The split between the development and delivery phases for Stori Brymbo is clear-cut. We spent nearly £400k before the formal development stage simply arresting decay and building the momentum to get the project taken seriously; we've now spent over £900k working up the details. The funders accepted our applications for grant to enable us to work up these details – without us doing this work, they would not have been prepared to consider our proposals for the final approvals for ‘delivery’ funding. We are now very nearly ready to go - with £6m ready to fund the work over the next five years.
For our Roots to Shoots project the two phases of 'development' and 'delivery' are blended together. This is highly unusual and stems from the National Lottery Community Fund and the Welsh Government working together back in 2015 to explore ways together of empowering communities to improve and make better use of their local green spaces.
We managed to secure £2m from this £8m Wales-wide budget, with our Roots to Shoots project going live in mid 2017. It runs to May 2025, and after four years we've spent less than a quarter of the budget - meaning there's lots left to spend to make the place brighter and more engaging.
Again, Covid slowed us down, and for large areas of land owned by Brymbo Developments Ltd we can only proceed as quickly as the land deal for Stori Brymbo progresses. With this now (January 2023) in place, public engagement work to help us design improvements to the parkland above lodge is underway, with works covering fencing repairs, interpretation boards and safety works (eg to the 'sunken bridge' set to take place before the end of 2023.
For the other spaces involved in Roots to Shoots - like Moss Valley, the Blackie and Bronwen's Green - the 'legal interest requirement' is much less demanding, so we only have to demonstrate that we have the landowner's permission to do the works. That's the stage we're at right now, and these are all progressing very positively, with works underway already or set to be underway during 2023.
Pam mae'r fargen tir yn cymryd cymaint o amser i'w datrys?
Mae ein prosiectau sy'n cynnwys yr hen safle gwaith dur yn rhannau bach o gynllun mawr a chymhleth sy'n cael eu harwain gan y tirfeddiannwr a fydd yn y pen draw yn gweld cartrefi newydd, ysgol, canolfan iechyd, manwerthu a thafarn / bwyty. Mae unrhyw oedi mewn un rhan yn tueddu i effeithio ar y lleill, ac felly dim ond ar yr un cyflymder â phopeth arall y gall ein prosiectau symud ymlaen.
Fodd bynnag, nid yw'r oedi hyn yn effeithio ar ein gwaith Gwreiddiau i Saethu ehangach, lle mae gweithgareddau mewn mannau eraill yn Brymbo, Tanyfron, Southsea a Moss bellach yn ailddechrau ôl-Covid-19. Archwiliwch y wefan i ddarganfod mwy)
A fyddwch chi'n rhedeg diwrnodau agored eto yn fuan?
Rydyn ni'n gobeithio ailddechrau diwrnodau agored yn gynnar yn 2022 unwaith y bydd y wefan wedi'i phrydlesu i ni. Bydd angen i ni addasu'r ffordd rydyn ni'n cynnal digwyddiadau o'r fath o amgylch y gwaith adeiladu, ac am resymau diogelwch ni fydd rhai rhannau o'r wefan yn hygyrch i ni am fisoedd ar y tro ... felly mae'n bosib iawn y bydd y diwrnodau agored yn cymryd mwy o teimlad 'gwaith ar y gweill' iddynt dros yr ychydig flynyddoedd nesaf nes bydd y gwaith cyfalaf wedi'i orffen.
Pryd fyddwch chi'n rhedeg Brymbo Rocks eto?
Os gellir cyrchu'r lle sydd ei angen arnom yn ddiogel byddwn yn anelu at redeg y Brymbo Rocks nesaf ddiwedd mis Medi 2022. Mae preswylwyr wedi rhoi llwyth o adborth inni weithio gyda nhw i wneud hwn y mwyaf, mwyaf cynhwysol a gorau eto, ac rydym ni ' byddwch chi eisiau eich mewnbwn i sicrhau ei fod yn ddigwyddiad gwych iawn!
A allaf i droi i fyny a chael golwg o gwmpas?
Na, mae'r safle ar gau i'r cyhoedd ar hyn o bryd. Pan fydd diwrnodau agored yn dychwelyd byddwn yn siŵr o gael eich postio yma ar y wefan yn ogystal â thrwy ein cyfryngau cymdeithasol.
A oes unrhyw sylwadau yn eu gadael yma ...
A allaf i droi i fyny a chael golwg o gwmpas?
Na, mae'r safle ar gau i'r cyhoedd ar hyn o bryd. Pan fydd diwrnodau agored yn dychwelyd byddwn yn siŵr o gael eich postio yma ar y wefan yn ogystal â thrwy ein cyfryngau cymdeithasol.
...but didn't you have a licence in place to erect the Fossil Forest strcuture back in 2019?
Briefly, yes. Here's the full story - the licence was relevant about half-way through:
The £128,000 grant for this work was offered in-principle in October 2017 on the basis of BHT becoming freehold owners of the site. It comes from the Welsh Government’s Rural Community Development Fund programme, co-funded between the WG and EU. We'd applied to the fund twice, firstly unsuccessfully in 2016, then successfully in 2017.
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The 2017 award decision was made by a grants panel and was based on the notion of the Fossil Forest project being an integral part of the wider heritage project. It scored highly with the panel – but not as a standalone conservation structure, but rather as a catalyst for sustainable community regeneration, tourism and economic growth.
At the time the Fossil Forest project was enjoying a period of very high public awareness, thanks to the work we’d been doing with BDL, Wrexham Museum, Natural Resources Wales and the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.
Hot on the heels of the good funding news we proceeded to appoint our palaeontologist (Dr Tim Astrop) in January 2018, who started with us in May that year. We went ahead and bought the large blue shipping container and started fitting it out as a laboratory – ready for it to form part of the eventual excavation structure. Our architect further evolved the design of the building and helped us to secure its planning consent in September 2018. We then tendered for and selected a contractor. By the end of December 2018 we were ready to go.
The funder’s 'in-principle' offer would become a full commitment (allowing us to reclaim money spent already on fees, the blue container, microscopes, etc) once a number of conditions were met. These included the planning consent already achieved and land deal to show that BHT had a long-term legal interest in the site.
We'd been working formally with BDL to agree the written terms of the land deal since the autumn of 2017. By the spring of 2019 these discussions were running behind the timetable we'd agreed for the spend of the £128,000 grant. Faced with the potential early loss of that funding we sought (and achieved) a concession with the funder to allow us to get the project started under licence, provided that there was sufficient assurance that the land transfer would follow swiftly behind. That assurance would come in the form of a signed ‘heads of terms’ for the land transfer. (NB - a licence is a written document that is provided by a landowner to give someone formal permission to do something on their land).
We worked with BDL over the rest of the spring of 2019, and on 5th July that year BDL and BHT jointly signed both the two-year licence and the heads of terms documents and provided them to the funder. Together, these gave us the go ahead we needed, and we swiftly moved to organise technical team meetings with our project manager, architect, Natural Resources Wales, BDL’s representative and the contractor.
At the first of these meetings in August 2019 it was agreed that the top few centimetres of parts of the surface of the fossil forest would need to be excavated by hand to establish the exact positions of any fossils that might be where the pads for the steelwork structure we due to be located. This surveying work would allow the designs to be tweaked to then avoid the fossils. The hand-tool excavation was conducted by our palaeontologist and our team of trained volunteers over the course of September and October 2019 in accordance with the licence and in liaison with Natural Resources Wales. We were then ready to instruct the contractor to order the steelwork and to get ready for the start of construction works (then anticipated as being Jan/Feb 2020).
During further technical team meetings in the autumn of 2019 practical questions were posed about the level of detail in the licence we had signed, and so we put a series of clarification questions to BDL via their land agent, who also had a series of detailed questions for us, which we answered comprehensively. The agent had proposed a re-writing and re-issuing of the licence to reflect the greater level of detail that both parties required.
Unfortunately, this was happening at the same time we were all trying to agree the basis of a new heads of terms for the land deal based upon a 25 year lease instead of freehold. These negotiations were complex, and when they ended abruptly in March 2020 so did discussions concerning the re-issuing of the licence.
Hence, during the rest of 2020 we had to report to the funder that a) there was no longer a licence in place that we considered to be valid, and b) that there was no longer certainty of a workable long term land deal.
In January 2021 we were pressed further by the funder and were asked to provide a revised timeline to ensure the grant could be used entirely within the 2021 calendar year. Whilst we provided a hopeful timeline to achieve this we also cautioned that it could take until March 2022 to complete the scheme. We were reminded of the upcoming closure of the funding programme and of the need for us show progress with the land deal, with a revised signed heads of terms being the evidence required.
Negotiations about the heads of terms for the 25-year lease resumed in May 2021 and within six weeks we’d agreed 95% of the document’s wording.
We gave our last formal update to the funder of the Fossil Forest in late November 2021 explaining that the heads of terms was still some way away from agreement, and that moreover it would no longer be possible to complete the 4-month build programme by the end of March. We asked for a further extension given the ongoing delays, and were told this was not possible and that termination was now being considered. Sadly, we received confirmation of the termination of the grant in January 2022.
As with the Machine Shop (awarded in full in February 2018), Lodge Valley Park, the Wonderbank, and Ocknall's Bridge (all awarded in full in March 2017) funding has been in place for many years to address both the conservation needs and our communities' aspirations. As is now evident with the Fossil Forest project, funders' timescales and patience are not indefinite.
During the Spring of 2022 we made the breakthrough we were hoping for with the land deal, and new 'heads of terms' for a 25-year lease were agreed between the Trust and the landowner on 4th April 2022.
On 13th January 2023 the two parties signed the 'agreement for lease', which makes the commitment to lease the property a binding commitment once a range of conditions have been met. These include planning consents (both for the trust and the landowner, both of which are likely to be hampered by the current 'phosphates issue' affecting developments across many parts of Wales), and evidencing that the project has been able to return to a position of being fully funded (in March 2020 the project cost was forecast to be £6.6m and £6.6m of funding was committed; by the end of 2022 the forecast was £8.3m meaning there is work to do to raise the balance and close the funding gap).
The build scheme for the fossil forest excavation structure will be the first major piece of actual physical work on the main heritage site, with work due to take place in early 2024.
