Council to debate proposals for new National Park

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

Proposals for a new North East Wales National Park could be opposed by Flintshire County Council this week.

Flintshire Council’s cabinet will debate a draft written response to Natural Resources Wales’ (NRW) plans to create a new national park covering what it classed as the ‘National Landscape’ of the  Clwydian Range and Dee Valley on Tuesday.

Following consideration by the Environment and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee however, the recommendation is that the council does not support a new national park.

Consideration

NRW is formally closing the consultation on Monday, December 16,  however it has assured the council it will accept a response for consideration after that date.

The proposals would see a 150 square-mile stretch from Gronant sand dunes down through Halkyn Mountain, Northop and the Vale of Clwyd, skirting Denbigh and Ruthin to reach Caegwrle and including the Ceiriog Valley, Lake Vyrnwy, Llanfyllin Valley and the Vyrnwy and Banwy Valleys.

Much of the proposed park is already included within the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape area. In Flintshire the proposed boundaries of the national park essentially follow the boundary of the existing Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Concerns

It would be the first designated National Park in Wales since 1957 and the fourth in the country after Eryri – until recently also known as Snowdonia – the Pembrokeshire Coast and the Brecon Beacons.

It would be the smallest of the national parks and bring the total land mass of Wales covered by national parks to almost 22%.

But Flintshire’s Environment and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee has raised concerns over the impact of the plans on the authority.

It’s just another level of bureaucracy,” said Cllr Mike Peers last month. “I don’t see what the difference is between what we have now and what is proposed apart from the name and the bureaucracy that goes with it. I don’t see the benefit of a national park.”

The committee highlighted financial risks over the potential future short and long term costs to the council of establishing and operating the National Park – with no detail provided by NRW on the cost implications.

Costs

There were also concerns over the potential future costs to individuals living in and outside the proposed National Park with relation to house prices, development costs and business costs.

It was also suggested it would place more of a burden on the remaining areas of Flintshire outside the park to provide land for employment and housing and that a new national park would constrain growth opportunities in the region.

The committee said it was wary of introducing another level of bureaucracy and believed the current National Landscape designation of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley was already doing an effective job of protecting the landscape and natural environment of the area.

Finally they cited that adding a fourth national park would only serve to devalue Wales’ existing national parks.

The committee was also concerned about the difficulty in predicting what the resource implications of the park would be and the potential loss of governance over planning for those areas within it. Typically national parks are the primary decision makers in planning applications within their boundaries.

The council’s final response will be debated by Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday, December 17 at 10am.