Powys council leader confirms again council's objection to Glyndŵr National Park proposal

Powys County Council has already reinforced its objection to proposals for a new national park in north-east Wales, which includes a sliver of the county.

Last week, it was announced in the Senedd by the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution, Plaid Cymru’s Dafydd Trystan Davies, that the government was provisionally minded not to confirm the order or proceed with a public local inquiry at this time for the national park.

This means that the national park proposal is effectively dead in the water.

But ahead of a final decision, a further period of consultation has started, which is set to finish on November 11.

Powys County Council Leader Councillor Jake Berriman made the announcement at a meeting of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet on Tuesday, October 20, as he took councillors through an annual monitoring report on the effectiveness of the Local Development Plan (LDP).

The LDP, which covered 2011 to 2026, “dropped dead” on March 31, although it continues to have material consideration for the county’s planners when deciding planning applications.

Cllr Berriman (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod North) said: “We have started work on the 2022-2037 replacement LDP, but unfortunately this has been held up by uncertainty caused by the new national park proposal.

“I would just like to confirm I have responded on behalf of Powys Council, asking that the order not be made, i.e. the new national park does not go forward.”

In December last year, Powys councillors from across the political spectrum voted unanimously against the proposal.

This was because of fears that the council would lose planning fees if a new national park with planning powers was set up.

There were also concerns that the infrastructure for the area would not be able to cope with an influx of visitors.

Last year, in revised proposals, much of the potential park area in Powys, which included Llanfyllin, Meifod and Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and the surrounding area, was taken out of the proposal.

The new proposal would see the park’s southern boundary at the A458 road at Llangadfan. Lake Vyrnwy would be within the national park, as would Llansilin and Llangedwyn, to the east of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.

The latest period of consultation last year saw 53 per cent of respondents support the national park proposal.

Another nine per cent were supportive if changes were made to the boundaries, and a further four per cent supported the principle of having the national park.

Only 31 per cent objected to the proposal, with three per cent undecided.

Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham Council and Cyngor Gwynedd, which took part in the consultation, joined Powys in objecting to the proposal.