The population of Wales in 2023 was just approximately 3.16 million, and was quite heavily concentrated on the south coast of the country, especially in the large cities of Cardiff and Swansea where approximately 383,500 and 246,700 people live, respectively.

This dataset is intended for researchers, students, and policy makers for reference and mapping purposes, and may be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying, and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analysis with other spatial data.

Approximately 28 percent of people in Wales advised that they were able to speak Welsh in 20224. The share of people who could speak Welsh ranged from over three-quarters of the population in Gwynedd, located in the North West of Wales, to 14.5 percent in Blaenau Gwent, a small county borough in the South East of the country.

(:unav)...........................................

This report draws on a series of previous research reports commissioned by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and its predecessor body on determining the conservation status of great crested newts, Triturus cristatus, in north Wales. The Welsh Government is obligated to maintain or restore the favourable conservation status of great crested newts within Wales and this report aims to provide practical guidance on how this can be achieved within the County of Flintshire. It is one of a series of three such reports, the other two covering the counties of Anglesey and Wrexham. Due to its legal status, the great crested newt is the focus of considerable conservation effort from a variety of bodies. This document aims to provide an overarching strategy to guide developers, conservation NGO's and local and national government in their efforts in order to achieve the greatest conservation benefit for great crested newts and ensure a unified approach to achieving Favourable Conservation Status (FCS) across the county. To this end, the report is accompanied by a number of GIS layers which will be of particular practical use to those engaged in great crested newt conservation across Flintshire. The report presents a scoring method by which the Current Conservation Status (CCS) of great crested newts can be determined at multiple geographical scales from a single pond to the entire county. It then uses predictive modelling based on geographical, distributional, climatic and historical data to produce habitat suitability maps and to derive survey targets and pond creation targets to enable FCS to be achieved within the county. These techniques can be applied in various land use and planning scenarios and the report provides practical guidance on identifying areas of particularly high or low value for great crested newts, assessing the impacts of proposed developments, designing effective mitigation and the implications of agri-environment schemes for great crested newts. During the modelling process, a total of 1,116 extant ponds were identified within the County of Flintshire. With a view to redressing historic loss (37% of ponds having been lost since the 1843 mapping data), FCS was considered in the light of the level of occupancy that would have occurred at the time of the original mapping relative to current levels of occupancy and Habitat Suitability of ponds to the species (HSI scores). Historically we estimate there would have been 1,659 ponds in Flintshire and a corresponding 258 ponds occupied by great crested newts and 398 ponds with an HSI score >0.7. We propose that the 258 occupied ponds should be used to provide a target level for great crested newts (FRV for Range and Habitat sufficiency). This is further qualified by requiring these ponds have an HSI >0.7 to ensure habitat quality, has at least a medium population, are found at a density of at least 4 per km2 (to ensure population viability) and has a minor (or lower) level of threat (to address the species’ future prospects). The Current Status of the species in Flintshire is estimated as having 174 ponds occupied by great crested newts. Using the propose scoring system, FCS in Flintshire requires 258 occupied ponds which form part of medium populations, in high pond density areas and that have an HSI of >0.7: the minimum score to achieve these criteria will be 16 for each pond. To achieve FCS the score would need to exceed is 258 x 16 = 4,128. With an estimated 174 ponds being occupied and if all of the ponds are in favourable condition (i.e. would score 16), then the Current Conservation Status score = 2,748. The approach to identifying CCS and FCS laid out within this document is one of a number which are in the process of being developed across the UK and Europe. Whilst there is currently no single standard approach which can be applied uniformly across a range of species and habitats, one may emerge in the future. With the recent increase in stud ...