New national park 'risks creating a millionaires' playground'

COUNCILLORS REFUSE TO BACK PROPOSALS

- By RICHARD EVANS Local Democracy Reporter

DENBIGHSHIRE councillors have refused to give their backing to plans for a new national park in North Wales.

At a special meeting this week at the 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 Glyndwr 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 Glyndwr 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 this week, Denbighshire councillors decided not to support the proposal, with several members claiming the plans were not thought out.