Councillors reject new National Park plans

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

Councillors have refused to give their backing to plans for a new national park in north Wales.

At a special meeting this week at Denbighshire council’s Ruthin County Hall HQ, councillors were tasked with coming up with a draft response to Natural Resource Wales’ (NRW) consultation on the proposed Glyndŵr National Park.

NRW has been assigned the job of looking at how a national park could be created within the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape.

If given the green light, approximately 46% of Denbighshire ’s land area and 13% of its population would fall within the proposed Glyndŵr National Park boundary.

The proposed park would also stretch from Denbighshire into neighbouring Flintshire and Wrexham and would be the fourth in Wales – and the first since 1957.

The Welsh Government claims national parks help tourism, as well as protecting wildlife and the environment.

At the meeting yesterday (Tuesday), Denbighshire councillors decided not to support the proposal, with several members claiming the plans were not thought out.

Leader of the opposition, Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts proposed councillors rejected the endorsement of the national park, going against council officers’ recommendation, before cabinet later considers the issue.

Cllr Hilditch-Roberts feared the tighter planning legislation of a national park, coupled with insufficient infrastructure and funds, meant the council could not back the plans.

“Why would we want to put ourselves under more pressure by bringing in potentially 100,000 more visitors into Denbighshire when our infrastructure is not robust enough to handle it,” he said.

“We can’t get our own roads right. We can’t enforce parking across Denbighshire in every town every day because we can’t have enough people.

“We can’t clean our own bins in our towns anymore because of the waste system, and they are filling the public bins, and they can’t get to them in Ruthin here for example.

“We are losing services, and we are short of money. By supporting a plan that we don’t know how big that black hole is is absolutely suicidal at this time.

“Our priorities are the people of Denbighshire, and we should be putting them first – 100,000 people, but we are closing toilets.

“Where will they go into toilets when they are parked on the side of the road in these places? It is a massive issue.”

‘Impact’

He added: “The impact on the communities is massive, but we’ve talked about house prices. We haven’t met our house targets as it stands.

“By handcuffing us with planning through a national park, it will even further reduce the ability to be able to deliver the houses for the affordable homes we want in the area as we do.”

Cllr Hilditch-Roberts’ proposal was seconded by Cllr Terry Mendies. Cllr Hugh Evans questioned the value of a national park when the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty already set a high standard.

Cllr Evans said the consultation had been contained and controlled, and he questioned why NRW hadn’t directly engaged with town and community councils.

“They have been left out,” he said. “They are the voice of the community. So you have no local feel of what the impact of the positives are in those communities.”

Cllr Evans also speculated whether house prices could increase, with Cllr Jon Harland stating that creating a national park could create a “millionaires’ playground”.

Clarity

Officers had recommended councillors backed the proposals in principle but added the authority needed clarity on governance, planning, and financial arrangements, as well as transition plans, before NRW submits the Designation Order to Welsh Government.

The council voted to reject the proposals for the national park until more clarity is available and suggested the matter is deferred until after the Senedd Elections in 2026 when there could be more certainty on funding.

The final decision on Denbighshire Council’s recommendation will now be debated by cabinet.