3. Will the Minister provide an update on Welsh Government plans to designate the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley as a national park? OQ56955

Thank you for the question, Carolyn. We are committed to creating a new national park for Wales covering the breathtaking Clwydian range and Dee valley. Work is under way with Natural Resources Wales to develop a comprehensive designation programme that will include all the necessary assessment, engagement and consultation. 

Thank you for that answer, Minister. I know many people in the local area are excited at the prospect of this designation, which will provide recognition of the park's unique natural beauty and heritage. It will provide a boost to manage tourism and help to create sustainable jobs. In 2000, the Scottish Labour Government introduced a National Parks (Scotland) Act of just 41 pages, which was a streamlined procedure to designate two national parks in Scotland, the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond, and meant that it took four years. Public consultation still went ahead in phases 1 and 2, which I think is one of the main concerns. Would the Minister provide an update on the planned timescale for achieving the national park status? I'm just worried that it might take a long time. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Carolyn. I share your concern, actually. The First Minister and I asked officials to carry out a really rigorous exercise looking at the range of legislative and non-legislative options available to achieve the aims that we want. We got really detailed legal advice on it. You're absolutely right that the National Parks (Scotland) Act altered the designation processes in Scotland, and subsequent to that, designations did go faster—about two to three years. But the actual legislation itself took a very long time to draft and introduce, so you've got to factor in the primary legislative change as well as the designation.

I think overall in Wales, we've decided that that probably isn't the fastest way to go, although I do understand the temptation and we did look at it very carefully. We want to do the whole thing in this particular term. We don't want to put the primary legislation in place and then designate. We think we've found a way to do that. We think we've found a way to do it making sure that we have all the right engagement and consultation. We need to take into account all the views of local people, and in the end we may not do it, if that's what the consultation says. But we very much hope to be able to make the case for the national park and the protections that it offers, and actually the enhanced life opportunities for the people who live inside the national park as well. But yes, we have looked very hard at what the quickest way of doing it is, and I think we have decided to go with the current system and the processes that that entails.

After the Welsh Government announced its plans to turn the Clwydian range and Dee valley area of outstanding natural beauty into a national park, concern was raised with me by people whose living comes from the business of farming livestock and land within the area of outstanding natural beauty. What discussion and engagement did you therefore have with people whose living comes from the business of farming livestock and land within the Clwydian range and Dee valley area of outstanding natural beauty before making your announcement? If none, what plans do you have to engage with them now in order to establish and address the questions, needs and realities on the ground?

Thank you, Mark. Obviously, what we've got here is an ambition, so what we need to do now is go through all of the processes necessary to see whether that ambition is an ambition shared with the people who live in the area that we would very much like to designate for the enhanced protection that that brings. But of course we will go through those consultation exercises carefully and make sure that we have as wide an engagement as possible with all of the people who live, work and play in the area that's encompassed by the area of the proposed national park. We will embark on that process with an absolutely open mind to make sure that we take all of those views on board, whilst at the same time hoping very much that we can persuade people that the added protection and designation that a national park can bring will both enhance the tourist offer and the lives and livelihoods of the people who live within the area. That's a process that we will embark on with a full consultation and engagement process in mind, and obviously we'll keep the Senedd informed as that process continues.