POLITICIANS have welcomed news that the new north Wales’ slate landscape has been earmarked for UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

An announcement was made at an event at the National Assembly last week which confirmed the bid has been backed by the UK government.

The nomination is being developed as a ‘cultural landscape’ with the statement of Outstanding Universal Value noting that the Slate Landscape of north west Wales is “an outstanding example of a cultural landscape formed by centuries of quarrying, working and transporting slate to global markets”.

The nomination is being developed by Gwynedd Council on behalf of a wide range of partners, and ‘Implementing the Gwynedd Slate Heritage’ is one of the strategic aims of the Gwynedd Council Plan 2018-2023.

Receiving UNESCO World Heritage status would “reinforce the area’s cultural distinctiveness”, “strengthen the Welsh language” and “become a significant driver for economic regeneration and social inclusion”.

Several of the key sites for the Gwynedd Slate Heritage scheme are unsurprisingly in Dwyfor and Meirionnydd, including the Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarries, Railways and Mill; Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries, ‘city of slates’ and railway to Porthmadog; Bryneglwys Slate Quarry, Abergynolwyn village and the Talyllyn Railway; and the Aberllefenni Slate Quarry.

Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP, Liz Saville Roberts, said: “Gwynedd’s natural and industrial heritage is undoubtedly worthy of receiving UNESCO World Heritage site status.

“Slate was both literally and metaphorically the bedrock of communities in north Wales – this is about preserving the economy and culture of the past and ensuring our heritage plays a role in Wales’s future.

”Gwynedd Council has done an amazing job in putting together a bid and I congratulate them for their work.’

See this week’s north editions for the full story, in shops and online now