“Set in the Clwydian hills and the Dee Valley area of outstanding natural beauty, Maesgwyn Estate is a traditional country shooting estate which operates a small private shoot which is known to stand out in a class of its own amongst those who have had the opportunity to shoot on the estate.” Blah, blah, blah – the usual ‘we’re the best’ hype, but there is a very interesting backstory to the Estate that a supporter outlined in some detail to us in an email (many thanks). In December 2021 the Myddelton estate, bordering Chirk Castle, was sold in a private sale to Kronospan Ltd, an Austrian-founded, Cyprus-based, international company that manufactures and distributes wood-based panels who renamed it Maesgwyn. Why Kronospan would want to operate a shoot is open to speculation (their UK office is in Chirk, so perhaps to offer shooting birds to its clients perhaps?), but more importantly this is a business regularly hit by pollution problems: in March 2002, the company was fined £20,500 after 8,000 tonnes of waste timber caught fire at the Chirk plant and burned for several days. The plant caught fire again on 17 June 2002 and firefighters were drafted in from stations in North Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. The plant suffered further industrial fires in April and September 2007 and September 2010. In 2012 firefighters attended industrial blazes at the plant in June, twice in July and again in October. On 17 April 2014 fire broke out again at the factory and took eleven hours to extinguish. In 2017, residents sought legal action over the factory’s dust emissions, with more than 1,000 people joining a Facebook group to highlight air pollution issues in the area. In January 2020 Kronospan was again hit by a big blaze, prompting community concerns. A Kronospan spokesperson was quoted saying “We will operate the estate as a separate business to the manufacturing plant operated by Kronospan Limited in the local area” – but given the environmental problems associated with shoots already, it is legitimate to query what a shoot owned by an accident-prone business like Kronospan will look like and how it might adversely impact local biodiversity and local residents alike…
Maesgwyn Estate (Wrexham)
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Information provided by a supporter (thank you)
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Listing is to inform choice only. By listing a business we are not suggesting or implying that the business is acting unlawfully. We are not asking for a boycott of the business. If you wish to contact the business please do so politely. We are a non-violent organisation and making threats, intimidating or harassing individuals is never acceptable under any circumstances and may lead to prosecution.