More than 120 people attended a public meeting held in North Pembrokeshire to discuss a community woodland bought with half a million pounds of public money.

The Ffynone and Cilgwyn woodlands near Boncath were bought by the Growing Heart Workers Co‐operative two years ago.

The purchase was funded by a £500,000 grant given to them under the Cydcoed scheme managed by the Forestry Commission Wales (FCW). But local residents were angry that they weren't consulted before the woods were bought by the co‐operative "for community use" and so they held a public meeting last week (July 9).

"It was a very well attended and lively meeting and the strength of feeling on this issue was apparent by the size of the crowd, said Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies, who chaired the meeting. Representatives from the FCW, the Growing Heart Co‐op and scores of local residents all attended the event in Bwlch‐y‐groes.

The meeting heard that a petition calling on the FCW to investigate the way the FCW awarded the grant money has been handed into the Welsh Assembly.

"The petition has now been sent to the Welsh Assembly's petitions committee and I understand that the committee has now written o the Minister for Rural Affairs, the FCW and the Welsh Audit office asking them to investigate," added Mr Davies.