A campaign has been launched to have an area of mid Wales designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in a bid to secure it for future generations.

The Cambrian Mountains Society said that the Cambrian Mountains is “long overdue” protected status and was “worthy of designation.”

In August last year the society, formed in 2005, wrote to Welsh Government ministers asking them to consider giving protected National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty protection to an area from near Machynlleth in the north to Llandovery in the south and Talybont in the west, across to Rhayader in the east.

They are now repeating the calls as Wales gets set to vote for a new Government on 6 May.

Described by writers over the centuries as “the green desert of Wales”, the Cambrian Mountains uplands include Pumlumon, Elenydd and Mynydd Mallen.

The sparsely populated sprawl of Mid Wales has in recent years been highlighted for its ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through its swathes of grassland.

“As Wales resurfaces from the coronavirus pandemic it’s time to celebrate its glorious landscapes,” acting chairperson for the Cambrian Mountains Society, Peter Foulkes, said.

“What better way to do this than by bringing the Cambrian Mountains into the family of Welsh designated landscapes, probably as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty."

A bid to give the area designated status in the 1960s and ’70s got as far as the Welsh Office, before finally being rejected in 1973.

Mr Foulkes added: “Not only would this acknowledge the natural beauty of the Cambrians, but it would also be a major boost to the economy of the area and its necklace of small towns such as Tregaron, Rhayader and Llanwrtyd.

“The Cambrian Mountains, incorporating a huge expanse of upland plateau smoothed over during the glaciations of the Pleistocene, are a unique landscape in Wales.

“They are well worthy of conservation for that reason alone, but also in being clothed in large areas of blanket bog they hold vast amounts of carbon and rainwater.

“Designation could also enhance the area’s biodiversity as well as promoting a range of ecosystem services.

“In addition to the hotels, guest houses and B&Bs across the area, in recent years many in the farming community have diversified into providing holiday accommodation such as converted barns, shepherd’s huts and campsites.

“How beneficial to all these businesses it would be if they could promote themselves as being in the Cambrian Mountains AONB?

“It is well documented that AONB designation attract visitors - and visitor cash - to Wales.

“In 2013 Wales’ National Parks attracted 12 million visitors who spent £1bn during their stay in those areas.

“In 2018 six visitor sites within the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB attracted over 1 million visitors and £24.1m in direct visitor expenditure.”