18/12/2007 03:34:53
A group of business people are calling for the Cambrian Mountains in Wales to be acknowledged as an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
The Cambrian Mountains stretch across North Wales and South Wales, almost filling the region between the Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons national parks. They are one of the few remote areas left in Southern Britain, and are dubbed by campaigners as "one of the few places where one can escape from the sound of traffic".
Two years ago, the Cambrian Mountains Society put in a bid for the mountains to be recognised as an AONB, but thus far the region's status remains unchanged.
Now, Cambria Active hopes to change this with a new bid. The group's chairman Richard Tyler told BBC News: "The Cambrian Mountains have been something of a black hole that people tend to drive through to get to other areas of Wales.
"AONB status would give us higher profile and allow us more access to funding to improve the look of the area."