CAMPAIGNERS are hopeful that a bid to designate the Cambrian Mountains as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) will now be debated in the Senedd after a petition calling for the move to be made reached more than 10,000 signatures.

The Cambrian Mountains Society (CMS) launched a petition to protect the region earlier this year, saying that “AONB designation would bring balance between development, local communities’ needs and people’s need for green space.”

“Conservation of these uplands gets little attention,” the petition said.

“Farms are bought up for conifer planting or for large wind farms despite the lack of infrastructure.

“So beautiful a region needs protection and longer term rural employment.”

The Cambrian uplands spread across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys, and includes exceptional glaciated plateaux, lakes, mountain rivers and valleys and host a wide range of threatened plants and animals – yet are the only area in Wales to have no formal protection whatsoever.

But that now could be set to change after the petition reached the milestone of 10,000 signatures to potentially be debated in the Senedd.

Lorna Brazell, Cambrian Mountains Society spokesperson said: “The support for designating this wonderful area – the backbone of Wales, and the heartland of Welsh language and culture – has been overwhelming.

“We have exceeded our target for signatures within a very short window.

“Protection for this unique landscape is long overdue.

“That one of the most striking areas in Wales is vulnerable to exploitation is a travesty.”

The campaign for AONB status has been backed by numerous high-profile supporters including Iolo Williams, TV naturalist, who is the Cambrian Mountains Society’s president; Sir Simon Jenkins, former Times editor, current Guardian columnist, and former chair of the National Trust; celebrated author and award-winning journalist, Neil Ansell; and BBC broadcaster and writer, Mary Colwell.

Sir Jenkins said it was a “tragic mistake”, that a plan to make the area a National Park back in the 1970s did not go through, leading to the “gradual erosion of the visual beauty of central Wales.”

The Cambrian Mountains Society - formed in 2005 - said the 10,000 signature petition will now be delivered and presented at the Senedd to petitions committee members on 4 October.