Llangollen, which is an integral part of it, features in a special feature in the travel section of last Saturday's Daily Telegraph looking at the arguments for and against the proposed new Glyndwr National Park.
The article, by senior writer Greg Dickinson, says the consultation process for the park is underway and public polling in recent years suggests the local population remains split on the matter.
It adds that in public surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024 the approval and disapproval ratios have been close. In the most recent poll there was an approximate 10 per cent majority in favour of the proposal, "but many still have concerns".
The reporter first visited the famous waterfall at Pistyll Rhaedr where he spoke to the man who runs the cafe, Phill Facey.
The attraction, not far from Llangollen, received around 80,000 to 100,000 annual visitors when Mr Facey moved from Norfolk to North East Wales in the late 1990s.
Now, he said, the number was closer to half a million, adding: "There are weekends when it is so busy, you come here on a Saturday and there's nowhere to park, imagine double that number. During lockdown the road was gridlocked for more than four days.
"Wales is bankrupt. The only people who want a national park are those who are going to benefit from it materialistically - the landowners."
On the other hand, at Plas Newydd the writer spoke to Howard Sutcliffe, lead officer of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley (AONB) Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, who "believed there were deeper benefits to consider to a national park".
Mr Sutcliffe is quoted as saying: "It's really important, with the poverty we see in the country, that disadvantaged groups do get access to the countryside.
"National parks have a much bigger, better system of education to bring in ethnic minorities to come and enjoy the countryside."
The writer concludes: "It sounds like division among local residents, but in a sense it is not. All parties in the area, ultimately, want the best for their home and all agree that some degree of change is needed. The sticking point here is whether the national park status wood, or should, be the right thing to catalyse that change."
* As this is such an important local topic llanblogger has tried to reproduce the full article below. To view it online, go to: https://www.pressreader.com/.../20251101/281655376319158
* Howard Sutcliffe, pictured right, is quoted in the story.
* A sidebar to the main story is a quick profile of Llangollen.
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