A conservation organisation that wants to let a huge swathe of mid Wales - from Pumlumon to the Dyfi Estuary – to go back to nature have been told they are taking a “flippin’ liberty”.

At Powys County Council’s full council meeting earlier this month, Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Elwyn Vaughan put forward a notice of motion asking the council to oppose Rewilding Britain’s Summit to Sea project.

It is a £3.4 million initiative that “aims to restore flourishing ecosystems and a resilient local economy”.

The plan is to transform a large swathe of Wales from the Pumlumon massif down through wooded valleys to the Dyfi Estuary and out into Cardigan Bay.

Cllr Vaughan said: “As someone with his family having carved their livelihood for generations from the slopes of Plumlumon, we are used to oppression from a far away force, indeed the pattern has been thus since the days of the Romans mining for lead in the area.

“And the latest in this long list is Rewilding Britain.

“Rewilding Britain has grown from a book named Feral by George Monbiot.

“A book that will no doubt give many people here a heart-attack from reading it. The truth is, that this is privileged middle-class romanticism and nothing more than that.”

“There is a need to stop kicking local farmers, this farming is different, it is more natural and seasonal – it does no good to the argument in favour of the environment by lambasting those who are the backbone of so many of our communities.”

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