Ceredigion residents have shown overwhelming support for having the Cambrian Mountains designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a breakdown of signatures to the Senedd petition illustrates.

Of the nearly 21,000 final signatures, around 6,560 of them were from Ceredigion. This means that 10 per cent of all registered voters in the county have already indicated their support for designation.

Dwynwen Belsey, a Welsh speaker who lives in Ceredigion and worked on the campaign as a trustee of the Cambrian Mountains Society, said: “This is a very good number given that we could only speak to a fraction of the county’s electorate of 63,408.

“It demonstrates the strength of local people’s support for AONB status, and gives us hope that their elected representatives at both county council and Senedd level will now rally to back the proposal too.”

The quest for AONB status is supported by TV naturalist Iolo Williams, Cambrian Mountains Society president, who describes the area as “Wales’ last true wilderness, a place where you can lose yourself in nature”.

Other supporters include William and Ffion Hague; Sir Simon Jenkins; BBC broadcaster and author, Mary Colwell; and award-winning writer, Neil Ansell, whose book Deep Country describes his five years living in the area.

Ansell describes the Cambrian Mountains as the “most under appreciated area in Wales”.