Business chiefs call for Brecon Beacons’ English name to be reinstated amid fears Welsh-only title will damage tourism and hospitality industries
- The National Park is called Bannau Brycheiniog National Park – Bannau for short
Angry company chiefs want the English name of the Brecon Beacons to be reinstated – after it was officially changed to Welsh only.
More than 50 businesses fear naming the popular national park as Bannau Brycheiniog will put off tourists and damage their trade.
National Park bosses decided to call the mountains by a Welsh-language name alone to celebrate its 66th anniversary, but said people were ‘welcome to use whichever name they choose’.
But more than 50 companies within the Beacons have formed a campaign group and are considering legal action against the move.
They say time and money has been spent building up the area as a ‘global hotspot for tourism’.
Businesses fear naming the Brecon Beacons as Bannau Brycheiniog will put off tourists and damage their trade. (Pictured: Walkers enjoying the national park)
National Park bosses decided to call the mountains by a Welsh-language name alone to celebrate its 66th anniversary
More than 50 companies within the Beacons have formed a campaign group and are considering legal action against the move
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also said he was against the name change – and would continue to refer to it by its English name.
Brecon Beacons: A history going back to the Middle Stone Age
The Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales was established in 1957, under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949.
The park has two purposes under law – those being to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the park; and to promote opportunities for the enjoyment and understanding of its special qualities.
Going back to 5500BC in Middle Stone Age times, hunter-gatherers cut down scrub and burned the aftermath to create small grassland areas so animals could graze and be hunted.
By the New Stone Age there was farming and the end of the Bronze Age there had been big forest clearances.
In the Iron Age, Celtic peoples arrived and brought much better farming processes including hill forts. The Romans and Normans later conquered the area – with the latter’s manorial system being consolidated in the Middle Ages.
From the end of the 15th century industries such as ironmaking and charcoal burning began to emerge – while more recent decades have seen urban expansion, road construction, and reservoir building.
The national park area now covers 520 square miles, which much of this being upland and two-thirds of the area comprised of old red sandstone rocks.
The new campaign group – called ‘Our Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons’ – say many businesses were not told of the name change before it happened.
They have called on the bi-lingual name to be used in both English and Welsh.
Group ambassador Helen Howarth, who owns Brecon Retreats, said: ‘I firmly believe that losing our identity as the Brecon Beacons national park will be detrimental to us all and especially tourism, hospitality and trade.’
The PM said: ‘When it comes to the Brecon Beacons, the first thing to say is this is an internationally renowned place to visit, attracts visitors from all around the world.
‘It’s something we’re all really proud of across the UK.
‘I’m going to keep calling it the Brecon Beacons, and I would imagine most people will do that too.’
The group has penned an open letter calling ‘to reinstate the bilingual Bannau Brycheiniog/ Brecon Beacons National Park name and brand’.
They say the English and Welsh have previously both been used and ‘this tradition must be protected and respected’.
The letter adds that many businesses were ‘not even notified about the renaming and rebranding project before its launch on 17th April’.
The group is also considering mounting a High Court challenge to argue that the renaming breaches the 1993 Welsh Language Act for Welsh public bodies to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis.
The launch of the name change was explained in a video, which was written by novelist Owen Sheers, featuring actor and activist Michael Sheen, who was born in Newport, South Wales.
The clip features images of rubbish, polluted water and wildfires and describes the area as being ‘hooked’ on carbon, diesel, petrol and oil. It also says it is suffering from an ageing population due to young people not being able to afford local housing or a well-paid job.
Rishi Sunak said: ‘I’m going to keep calling it the Brecon Beacons, and I would imagine most people will do that too’
Talking about the new name, Sheen said: ‘I’m delighted to see them facing their challenges head-on and welcome the reclamation of the old Welsh name, an old name for a new way of being.’
He added: ‘National parks have a vital role to play in providing for nature, for people and for our shared future.’
Brecon’s chief executive Catherine Mealing-Jones said: ‘Given that we’re trying to provide leadership on decarbonisation, a giant burning brazier is not a good look.’ Others, however, disagree – strongly.
Frank Furedi, professor at the University of Kent, said changing the park’s name was ‘not going to do anything’ for the environment.
He added: ‘They’re using the environment as a pretext to change the words that we use, it’s not really about the environment at all.’
Founder of the Free Speech Union, Toby Young, said: ‘It’s typical of the numpties who now run Wales to sacrifice the name of its most famous national park in order to virtue signal about climate change.’
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