PLAID CYMRU’S North Wales Senedd Member has warned that key questions for a new national park remain unanswered as a 10-week public consultation period on the proposals commence.
Llyr Gruffydd MS has called on the Labour Government to address three fundamental issues before he and many of his constituents across North East Wales can support the proposals.
Expressing concern about the plan Mr Gruffydd said: “Before we jump headlong into establishing yet another national park in Wales, we’ve got to understand that national parks are not an environmental silver bullet. Only 6% of land within existing national parks are managed effectively for nature.”
Welsh Government has set out its intention to designate a new National Park in Wales based on the existing Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or AONB (now known as a ‘National Landscape’). If established, it would be the fourth national park in Wales, and the first since 1957.
As the public consultation outlining the proposal begins, Llyr Gruffydd said: “Firstly , we need clarification around how the Welsh Government is going to pay for this? National parks cost £50 million a year to run and budgets in our existing three parks are already tight. Where is the money to run this park going to come from? Is it additional money, or is it a share of the existing national park budget?”
He said that Plaid Cymru does not object to the concept of national parks nor to the proposal for a new park in the North-east of Wales in principle but wants serious discussion around the impact the designation could have on communities above anything else.
He continued: “Secondly, it is vital that we put the communities at the heart of this proposal. In places like the Eryri National Park the effect of over-tourism has to be avoided – bumper-to-bumper traffic, ambulances not getting through to emergencies, illegal camping, and the negative effect of hyper-inflation in the housing markets on young people.”
He added: “Thirdly, whilst national parks can clearly bring some benefits, it’s vital that the Government explains how they will tackle the negatives before forcing this through. Whatever your view, I’d urge as many residents as possible to respond to the consultation so that everyone can have their say.”
A 10-week public consultation period on proposals for a new National Park in Wales will run between the 7 October and 16 December 2024. Public exhibitions of plans for the proposals will visit 10 communities in the designated area. More information about the plans and the consultation events can be found by clicking Wales’s New National Park Proposal – Natural Resources Wales Citizen Space – Citizen Space (cyfoethnaturiol.cymru)
