The Cafe on Mount Snowdon, Snowdonia National Park

NATIONAL park planners have approved plans to replace the 70-year-old cafe on Snowdon's summit.

The redevelopment will see the current concrete unpopular building replaced by a multi-million pound building finished in stone and glass.

The summit of Snowdon attracts 400,000 walkers and train visitors each year, but the existing, stone-built building with tin roof has been described as "the highest slum in Britain" by Prince Charles.

The Snowdonia National Park will have to fund the estimated £7m cost of the scheme.

The new cafe will incorporate non-reflective glass, with the roof line softened to blend in with the stone at either ends, and the colour of the stone will be close to the greyness of the sky.

The current cafe, which was designed by William Clough Ellis - the man behind the Italianate village of Portmeirion - is run by the Snowdon Mountain Railway company who lease it from the National Park.

Alan Kendall, from the railway company, said the new building would offer "a much better visitor experience".

Conservationists say they want great care taken to ensure any new building does not detract from the beauty of the mountain.