The Minister for Rural Affairs has said she “welcomes the debate” on designating the Cambrian Mountains as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), but one MS has poured cold water on the idea.

Capaigners hoping to designate the Cambrian Mountains as an AONB have handed a petition of more than 12,500 calling for the move into the Senedd in October, and on 30 November the move was debated by Senedd members.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister for Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths said: “The Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales are clearly an area of great beauty and tranquillity, as well as being of great importance for the Welsh language and for farming.

“The petition articulately sets out some of the qualities of this landscape, and I welcome this debate on its future.

“It would not be appropriate for me to agree to designate a new AONB here and now, but I’m open to a dialogue as we explore what we need and want from our landscapes.”

The Cambrian uplands spread across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys, and includes exceptional glaciated plateaux, lakes, mountain rivers and valleys and host a wide range of threatened plants and animals – yet are the only area in Wales to have no formal protection whatsoever.

While the petition was supported by three quarters of the MSs in the plenary session at the Senedd, Dwyfor Meirionnydd MS Mabon ap Gwynfor told the meeting that “setting a designation such as AONB is not going to benefit this area.”

“There is no doubt that this area is an area of outstanding natural beauty; it is glorious and full of history,” he said.

“The potential for developing a circular economy with tourist initiatives in local ownership are great.

“So, rather than a designation that sets an area in some sort of stasis, we’d much rather look at building on the good work that’s already being done.

“AONB is not simply a designation; it has a status and expectations, and those expectations fall, to a great extent, on the local authorities in the area.

“Creating a new AONB would place additional financial pressures on Ceredigion, Powys and Carmarthenshire, and these counties are already facing grim financial times, so I doubt that they would welcome an AONB designation.