Natural Resources Wales has announced when retail and catering will end at three much-loved visitor centres.

A series of meetings has been arranged for next week to discuss the planned closures of the centres at the three sites.

Natural Resources Wales has said they will all remain open until 31 March 2025 and will then close.

Despite strong local interest from community groups in taking over the running of the centres, NRW says it won't start talks until after the doors have closed at the sites.

In a statement, NRW said: "Retail and catering provision at three visitor centres managed by Natural Resources Wales will remain open until 31 March, 2025, and will then close.

"After closure we will launch a public exercise to look for partners who may be interested in helping to run these services at Bwlch Nant yr Arian, Ynyslas and Coed y Brenin in the future.

"All paths, trails, car park, play area and toilet facilities will remain open at the sites and we are holding public meetings to update communities on November 25, 26 and 27."

Elsie Grace, NRW’s Head of Sustainable Commercial Development, added: “We understand how important our sites are to local communities and visitors and we know the decision to stop providing catering and retail services is disappointing to many people.

“Our board made the decision in response to the extremely tight funding situation we and other public bodies face.

“We will look for partners, both community groups and businesses, to register an interest in providing these services moving forward and will provide more information on how to submit expressions of interest ahead of the launch of any tender exercise.

“In the meantime, all our paths, trails, car park, play area and toilet facilities will remain open and we will continue to maintain our sites to ensure public access continues.

“I would also like to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication at this time.

“We look forward to welcoming members of the public and stakeholders to our upcoming meetings so we can provide more information.”

On why the public body won't negotiate with local community groups, NRW said that as a public sector organisation it 'has strict procurement regulations and processes that must be followed', adding: "To ensure fairness and parity, no proposals will be considered in advance of the start of any public tender and we will provide more details of this process, including the start date, in due course.

"In due course we will use the Sell2Wales website and those interested can register on the platform in advance of any process starting."

Reacting to the announcement, Ceredigion MS, Elin Jones, said: “I don't understand the logic by NRW of doing nothing until the centres have closed.

“It makes no sense. I'll be urging NRW to talk to potential partners for the sites immediately so that there is a seamless move to a new provider in April. A potential mothball is the worst possible option."

The public meetings will be held at:

Borth Community Hall, High Street, Borth, SY24 5LH, November 25 starting at 7pm.

Neuadd Penllwyn Capel Bangor, Aberystwyth, SY23 3LS, November 26 starting at 6.30 pm.

Ganllwyd Village Hall, Llafar Y Lli, Ganllwyd, LL40 2TF, November 27 starting at 6.30pm.

Caru Coed y Brenin, a community group who want to take over the running of the centre will be holding their own meeting on Sunday to discuss their plans.

A drop-in session will be held at Neuadd y Ganlwyd between 3pm and 6pm for people to come and discuss the plans for the future.