Hagues back calls to give mountains protection

FORMER Conservative Party leader and Foreign Secretary Lord William Hague and his wife Ffion Hague have added their voices to the campaign to have the stunning, unspoilt landscape of the Cambrian Mountains given protected status.

The Cambrian uplands spread across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys, and include exceptional glaciated plateaux, lakes, mountain rivers and valleys and host a wide range of threatened plants and animals.

In a joint statement, the Hagues said: “Living nearby, and with a long family history in the area, we fully appreciate the beauty of the Cambrian Mountains, one of the most special but least well-known places in Mid Wales.

“They are one of the few truly remote areas left in southern Britain where one can escape both from the sound of traffic and from light pollution.

“It matters to us that we retain at least some spaces where it is still possible to experience a sense of harmony with nature and escape from the pressures of the urban environment.

“It is important, too, to maintain diverse landscapes, including peatlands and moorlands for the biodiversity they sustain which, in turn, increases our own communities’ resilience to the stresses of climate change.

“We are very fortunate that the benefit of this open landscape remains available to us into this highly technological age, and we support designation of the Cambrian Mountains as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) as an important step to ensure that future generations, too, are able to enjoy that benefit.”

As a key element of its campaign, the CMS collected a 12,500-strong petition in favour of AONB status and delivered it to the Senedd recently, requesting that the issue be debated by Members as a matter of urgency.