Honey farmer ‘pushed to the limit’ by Wylfa Newydd saga:
DISTRESS OF HONEY FARMER PUSHED TO LIMIT
ADISTRAUGHT farmer and beekeeper says she has been pushed to the brink of suicide by the Wylfa Newydd saga.
Katie Hayward claims the planned nuclear power plant will destroy her business and said she recently attempted an overdose to end her anguish.
She has since recovered but, in a distressing video published on Twitter, she broke down and sobbed: “I don’t know if I can take it any more”.
Not only has she been upset by talks with developers Horizon Nuclear Power, resulting in a mitigation offer she describes as “derisory”, her beekeeping business was devastated by Storm Dennis.
Despite wading into floodwaters in a bid to save her hives, 40 colonies drowned. Each contained 50,000 bees.
Mrs Hayward’s Twitter video makes tough viewing but she said she wanted the public to understand the agonies she has endured running a business on the boundary of the planned Wylfa Newydd development.
“I can’t sleep at night and last year the stress caused stomach ulcers that were so bad I collapsed in the yard, requiring two weeks in hospital,” she said.
“The ulcers have now returned and I’m in so much pain. But far worse is knowing that a business I built from scratch to become an award-winning success story is about to be destroyed.
“I worry too for my animals, some of which are rescues and may have to be put down if I lose my home.”
In 2012 Katie gave up a wellpaid job to set up Felin Honeybees on a rented National Trust farm outside Cemaes.
She has since won a string of national awards and her “bee therapy” work, with drug addicts, self-harmers and prison inmates, has been widely lauded.
But she fears it could all be lost if and when construction starts on the mothballed £16bn nuclear plant.
“I live in the real world and I know I can’t stop this monster, nor do I want to,” said Katie, whose husband works away.
“But Horizon has a moral duty to mitigate the impacts, such as noise, dust and vibration, on people living nearby.
“My property is now the only one left standing in a one-mile radius of the site. If the plant goes ahead, and I’m not able to move away, it will be like the Pennine farm around which the M62 was built.” In the absence of site mitigation offers, Katie’s barrister has sought restitution to enable her to move to another location. At one point a deal was thought to be in the bag and Katie tendered for another farm on the island. But the offer was withdrawn and, according to Katie, this process was repeated a further six times over 15 months.
“I keep going back to square one,” she said. “It’s as if they are trying to wear me down. “But I have to stay strong. Moving away from here is not easy or cheap as I have 120 hives, five rescue horses, one rescue sheep and several cattle.”
A final take-it-or-leave-it offer was made by Horizon in October, which was rejected.
Following Katie’s fight has been renowned filmmaker William McGregor, who directed sections of the BBC’s His Dark Materials series as well as episodes of Poldark and Misfits.
The resulting documentary, filmed on Anglesey in January, will be released later this year.
An extended consultation of the Wylfa Newydd project by the Planning Inspectorate concluded the week before last, with BEIS secretary Alok Sharma now expected to rule on Horizon’s Development Consent Order (DCO) application by March 31.
The consultation includes redacted testimony from Katie, along with a dismissal of her claims by Horizon.
The company said its final offer was “reasonable given the nature and terms of her tenancy, the nature and scale of her business ... and the fact that she has no legal right to claim compensation.”
Leon Flexman, corporate affairs director, said Horizon’s Wylfa team had met Katie on numerous occasions but he accepted the project’s suspension had disrupted the process.
He said Katie’s offer went beyond that which was required.
“We have always felt reasonable voluntary agreements are important if there is a case of genuine hardship,” he said.
“We’re sorry the current situation is proving difficult for Mrs Hayward. We’re keen to keep talking and come to a reasonable solution.”