Carmarthenshire in Context

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The map on this page shows the wider context for Carmarthenshire – which sits between two National Parks. It also shows the 8 towns addressed by this Strategy, giving an indication of their relative size.

Carmarthenshire is a county of contrasts. As a county, it benefits from a rich natural and cultural environment – characterised by magnificent coastlines, quiet estuaries, steep wooded valleys and rugged uplands.

Carmarthenshire’s natural beauty and network of distinctive towns and villages provides a key recreational resource for local residents as well as being attractive to tourists. However, the former coal, steel and other heavy industries that occupied parts of the county have left their environmental legacy.

The south east of Carmarthenshire contains the most built-up areas. This region was heavily mined for coal and quarried for limestone. It developed along roads that linked small towns, such as Ammanford and Cross Hands. There are larger areas of housing and industrial estates in Llanelli and onto Swansea City.

Llanelli in particular is strongly influenced by the wider developments going on in the Swansea Bay City Region – driven by a £1.3 billion city deal signed in 2017.

Outside of the major built up areas, agricultural land dominates the county – which forms one of the most important agricultural areas in Wales. Carmarthenshire has been described as the ‘garden of Wales’. The county hosts several important sites for biodiversity. There are 12 internationally important sites for nature conservation that lie wholly or partially within Carmarthenshire, as well as four National Nature Reserves (NNR) and 81 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and 6 Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) – see interactive map for more details.

The coastal and estuarine environments in particular are rich in species, some of which are of considerable conservation importance.

A range of legacy and modern environmental pressures mean that the marine and water environment in Carmarthenshire are now under significant pressure.