A GROUP opposed to a plan for North East Wales to work more closely with England is claiming victory in a campaign to have it scrapped.

Members of the People’s Council for North Wales (PCNW) spent more than a year gathering 24,000 signatures for a petition.

It demands the region’s withdrawal from the West Cheshire/North East Wales Sub-Regional Strategy, which called for closer ties with Cheshire on major planning and economic issues.

The strategy was adopted by Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire councils in 2006.

But PCNW claimed it would mean at least 20,000 houses being built in North East Wales, aimed at attracting inward migration, without any concerns about the impact on quality of life locally.

Now it says the Welsh Assembly Government has axed the strategy.

An Assembly Government spokesman said: “A decision to no longer pursue the Sub-Regional Spatial Strategy was taken by the Mersey Dee Alliance Board on January 21, 2011.

“The board and its partners can now focus on a small number of deliverable activities, such as development of a knowledge and innovation network. Make it in Manufacturing, a project which promotes manufacturing as a career option to school-aged children, and green infrastructure.”

PCNW campaigner Nia Lloyd, from Coedpoeth, said: “It’s important to highlight the huge amount of work done by ordinary local people from Wrexham, Denbighshire, Flintshire and indeed across Wales who have worked tirelessly over the last few years to get this result.

“It certainly goes to show that if you put your mind to it you can get things changed.”

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