TRADERS say the loss of undergraduate education from Wales’ oldest university will have a direct impact on jobs, businesses and livelihoods in Lampeter.

The town’s chamber of trade is calling for fresh educational uses to be found as quickly as possible for the campus, to bring prosperity back to the high street.

Chair Sandra Jervis said it was disappointed by University Wales Trinity St David’s (UWTSD) recent decision to relocate remaining humanities courses from Lampeter to its Carmarthen campus.

She said the chamber had whole heartedly supported protests against the proposal which were held in Lampeter before Christmas and outside the Senedd in Cardiff.

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

Sandra, 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.

“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.

Announcing its decision to remove courses from Lampeter, UWTSD said: “On 11 November 2024 it was proposed that, given the diminishing numbers of students studying full-time at the Lampeter campus, the university should relocate current and future Humanities teaching and learning to its Carmarthen campus from September 2025.

“The engagement from students and staff has made an essential contribution to challenging and helping to further develop the original proposal.

“The university has now concluded its decision-making process and approved the proposal to relocate its Humanities provision from Lampeter to Carmarthen.

“We have worked to reduce uncertainties for staff and students by making a decision in good time to enable the transition.

“The university will now commence preparations and practical considerations, to enable a smooth transition for Humanities to begin the academic year at its new Carmarthen home in September 2025.

“The Lampeter campus is of great importance to the university.

“A mechanism will be established through which stakeholders can be involved in proposals for a range of economically viable, education-related activities that would bring a new, sustainable lease of life to the campus.”