Letter to the Editor: With reference to your piece (Behind the News: The waiting game, Cambrian News, 22 February)  I would like to further point out the length of the wait — and perhaps, also, the long-term political lassitude involved.

During 1945 The Dower Report – National Parks of England and Wales was published. This consisted of a discussion paper asked for by the Minister of Town and Country Planning and it put forward the idea of establishing a post-World Wars network of National Parks (NPs). Within the Report ten areas (referred to as Division A: Suggested National Parks) were put forward for immediate consideration as National Parks, those in Wales being; Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembroke Coast. John Dower went on to suggest a further twelve areas (Division B: Reserves for possible future National Parks) that might form the second tranche of National Parks, in Wales these included separately Plynlimon (sic) and the Elinith (sic) Mountains.

In fact, over ten years earlier George Stapleton, the first Director of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station (nowadays IBERS – Gogerddan campus) had suggested that Plynlymon (sic) be designated a National Park.

Dower’s report went further, producing a third list (Division C: Other Amenity Areas not suggested as National Parks) seven of which were in Wales including Gower and the Clwydian Range. Both of these areas subsequently became not NPs but Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Now, however, as Minister Griffiths — as well as being MS for Wrexham — suggests it looks like NRW’s team have their hands full converting the Clwydians into a National Park. So much for “Other Amenity Areas not suggested as National Parks” and meanwhile Pumlumon and Elenydd sit and wait.

But perhaps those interested in the care of the Cambrian Mountain, made up of the three massifs; Pumlumon, Elenydd and Mynydd Mallaen, might be better off seeking an alternative form of protection rather than a NP or AONB as, despite their respective authorities’ best efforts, they are finding it extremely difficult in hitting their targets on the conservation of both biodiversity and habitats.

The UK’s NPs and AONBs are classified by the IUCN/International Union for Conservation of Nature as Category V – “Protected Landscapes” but perhaps the Cambrian Mountains would be better off within IUCN’s Category IV designation – “Habitat or Species Management Area.”

With the Cambrians having huge tracts of Blanket Bog, alas much of it degraded,  Category IV with a focus on “….regular active interventions to address the requirements of species or to maintain habitats …” looks a more fitting means of conserving the area’s natural beauty.

It would also place the Cambrians in the same grouping as; the Cairngorms in Scotland, the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and the Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve in Portugal.

Peter Foulkes,

Abercegir