Welsh Gov Casts Themselves as Judge, Jury and Executioner in Glyndŵr National Park

Published: 11 November 2026

After a seismic Welsh election brought Plaid Cymru to power for the very first time earlier this year, the new administration inherited the previous Labour Government’s incomplete commitment to establishing Wales’ fourth National Park in north east Wales with an obvious and overwhelming lack of enthusiasm.  

After a few months of speculation, on the 13 October the Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution, Dafydd Trystan Davies, effectively ended all hope for the establishment of the Glyndŵr National Park, announcing during an oral statement in the Siambr that he was “minded not to confirm the designation Order, and consequently minded not to proceed with a public local inquiry.” 

Despite four years of detailed preparatory work, consultation and public engagement, the Government have all but decided to ditch the public local inquiry, abandoning the opportunity to fully answer the nuanced concerns raised by local authorities during the notification period, or provide all sides of the argument for and against designation the opportunity to fully test desirability. 

Instead, a token four-week engagement period was offered which called for ‘new’ evidence, as if the last four years of engagement periods, local consultation, impact assessment and analysis weren’t enough to move forward. It is difficult to see how individuals or organisations would be able to muster up additional new evidence in this short timeframe considering the wealth of evidence already in existence, and some clearly established areas of concern for local communities which need to be fully evaluated, rather than used as the only current reason for canning the inquiry.   

Instead, the engagement period (which ends today on November 11th) feels like a stitch up, concocted by Welsh Government to appear like they are considering all sides of the debate, whilst instead choosing to close down a full examination of the facts through a public inquiry, deemed the appropriate next step by the last Labour Government. This process has wasted limited resources, genuine goodwill and frustrated all those who want to see this government set out an ambitious programme for nature and designated landscapes.  

Not only that, by dismissing this inquiry, Plaid Cymru have caved in to some pretty unpleasant intimidation tactics and misinformation from opponents to the Park who have made the environment extremely toxic for those locally who want to speak up but feel intimidated to do so in a public forum. In an ever-divided world that likes to fight from corners constructed on hardened perception of fact and fiction, rather than the nuanced evidence in front of them, a space for reasoned debate and close interrogation of the facts is all the more important. A public inquiry, whatever your view of the National Park, was the place to do this… not a Facebook forum.  

We hope that Welsh Government now decide to change tact and offer a full public inquiry before making their final decision to designate, recognising the value of National Parks and standing up for the existing Parks whose reputation has equally been put through the mill by this process.  

Whilst ultimately this will remain a political decision, whenever the decision is made, it remains important that we stand up for the principle of National Park designation and the valuable benefits they deliver to the nation. We want Welsh Government to use the moment to offer genuine investment and reform in our existing National Parks to help them succeed for future generations.  

It’s clear that our Welsh Designated Landscapes cover some 25% of the land and without them shining brightly, we cannot build climate resilience, restore nature, secure higher levels of health and wellbeing, or build healthy rural communities across Cymru. It is incumbent on us all to value, protect, talk about and argue why National Parks matter, and we need the Plaid Cymru Welsh Government to hear the Cymru’s enthusiasm loud and clear.