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At the meeting of the Pwll Du Cave Management Group, on Saturday 1st March 1997, members and officers of the group met to discuss aspects of the land sale at Pwll Du and its consequences to cavers, and to consider the news that a second entrance to Ogof Draenen had been opened.
Due to the proposed land sale, see last DESCENT, p.9, the Coal Authority, through its Land Agent, has stated it now requires a legal access agreement. The P.D.C.M.G., through its officers, is now in negotiations with the C.A. and has made good progress at an amicable meeting. The C.A. are asking for gated, controlled access and this seems to be covered by the present arrangements. We have also expressed, in writing, our interest in land purchase. This has been acknowledged by the Land Agents. We have also made progress over raising money for possible land purchase. Further discussions will be held with the Land Agents, on both the above items, in the near future. The area is also being put forward by the Countryside Council for Wales (C.C.W.) as a possible Site of Special Scientific Interest (S.S.S.I.) and for other protection by (a) Land purchase and (b) Working with other possible purchasers such as Environmental organisations or the P.D.C.M.G.
The meeting was informed that the second entrance had been opened more or less by accident, when a boulder choke inside the cave was being investigated and it ran-in. Work above ground was then done to make the collapse safe. It had not been thought necessary to inform the management group. The group considered that the new entrance was not viable, due to its position on a very steep, dangerous slope with inadequate access. The site was highly visible and erosion would be a problem, with the top lip of the opening already beginning to break away. It was felt that remote areas of the cave had been well conserved by virtue of their distance from the original entrance and that these areas would be threatened by the opening of an entrance nearby. Given the unsuitability of the site, the potential conservation implications, the accidental way in which the entrance came about and the continuing moratorium on new entrances, it was decided (with the support of those responsible) that the new entrance would be capped and not used for access to the cave, but in the unfortunate event that a rescue was necessary from the area, it should be possible to re-open the entrance. This work is to be carried out on Saturday 8th March. The group had previously agreed a moratorium on the opening of new entrances, pending a debate on the issue and it seemed an appropriate time to fix a date for this, to coincide with the group's biannual general meeting: 15th June 1997. Further details of this meeting will be circulated in due course.
Tim Long
Conservation Officer
Pwll Du Cave Management Group