Brexit Party 'would create new National Park'

The party has announced that, should it get into power, it would create a new Welsh Marches National Park straddling the England-Wales border from Oswestry in the north to Hay-On-Wye in the south.

It would also cover East Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire.

Oliver Lewis, the Brexit Party's prospective MP for Montgomeryshire, said if elected the party would create two National Parks in the county, the other being in the Cambrian Mountains.

Mr Lewis said the Marches National Park would preserve the area’s wilderness, as well as its unique cultural and architectural qualities.

There would also be a total ban on windfarms in the area, he said.

Mr Lewis said there would be a National Park headquarters in Welshpool, creating 100 new jobs.

He said the Cambrian Mountains National Park would include the entire southern side of the Dyfi estuary, with a headquarters in Machynlleth, supporting a further 100 jobs.

Mr Lewis said: ‘’Our announcement for two new National Parks will create 200 jobs in the county and protect two of the most beautiful parts of Montgomeryshire from the spread of wind-farms and overdevelopment.

"The boundaries of the new Marches National Park will be determined by a public consultation, but it is envisaged that it will stretch from the south of Oswestry all the way to Hay-On-Wye, around 12 miles either side of the border and including the Shropshire Hills and the Radnor and Clun Forests."

Last year Ludlow Liberal Democrat councillor Andy Boddington called for the Shropshire Hills to be given National Park status. But the call was rejected in the latest review by the Department of Food and Rural Affairs.