As well as being located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Llangollen Canal are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The local economy is largely based around tourism and farming.

Llangollen gained Cittaslow status in 2013 and the group that manage Cittaslow are part of the Town Council.  

We believe Llangollen is exceptional for the high number and wide range of community groups it has, with many of these groups sharing Cittaslow’s philosophy. With a population of just over 3500 nearly 100 groups were captured in the Llangollen Community Photobook published by Simon Collinge and Andrew Gale.

The work of all these groups contribute to and define the social, physical and cultural fabric of our town, and organically align with Cittaslow principles. 

Cittaslow Llangollen believes that it has a powerful and positive role to play as an umbrella organisation that acts as enabler, facilitator, co-ordinator and community hub. We support local groups, bring them together and aim to provide support and foster partnerships to further advance the goals that define Cittaslow. Our support extends to helping new groups and projects, signposting and organising training, highlighting funding opportunities, supporting events and providing some funding through our annual participatory budgeting scheme. The community engagement that we have managed to develop has been very positive and the enthusiasm from the groups we engage with is tangible.

In addition to our day-to-day engagement with our partners we regularly host networking meetings that bring together local organisations and groups under Cittaslow principles broadly captured by Environment, Food and Farming; Tourism, Culture & Heritage; and Community Support and Social Inclusion. These meetings build understanding and support for Cittaslow principles and help guide our forward plan. We are currently developing a new Llangollen Cittaslow Community website.

Our network continues to grow and we are currently engaging with over 50 organisations.