Concern at economic impact of ending university education at Wales’ oldest campus

Traders in Lampeter are calling for talks with University Wales Trinity St David’s (UWTSD), fearing the economic consequences of its decision to end undergraduate education in the town.

Humanities courses at what is Wales’ oldest university, are being moved moved from Lampeter to Carmarthen in September, ending more than 200 years of academia in the town.

Lampeter’s chamber of trade is calling for fresh educational uses to be found as quickly as possible for the campus, warning the decision will have a direct impact on jobs, businesses and livelihoods.

Chair Sandra Jervis said the chamber had whole heartedly supported protests against the proposal which were held in Lampeter before Christmas and outside the Senedd in Cardiff last month.

Dialogue

She urged the university to now engage in a dialogue with the local community as it looks to find new uses for the campus.

Ms Jervis, herself a Lampeter graduate who now runs a stationery shop, Creative Cove, in the town, said a gradual fall in the number of students over the past 25 years had directly caused a decline in custom for businesses such as pubs, cafes and shops.

“The campus urgently needs to be brought back to life,” she said. “We need people back on a thriving campus, lots of people, if Lampeter is to prosper in the future.”

Her comments came as the Lampeter Society, a group of thousands of alumni which organised the protests in Lampeter and at the Senedd, said it wanted to be involved in efforts to find new uses for the campus.

Senedd debate

“We would like representatives of the society to be part of the university’s new stakeholder board, focusing on the future of the campus,” said spokesperson Esther Weller.

She also said it still wanted a Senedd debate on the future of the campus, which was founded as a university in 1822.

It was also continuing to collect signatures for a petition calling for the university and Welsh government to create a viable, sustainable plan for the campus’s long term future.