South Pennines could be given special status
Campaigners lobby Gove’s envoy to protect uplands whose ‘unique’ beauty is backdrop to city centres
THE South Pennines, including the area around Ilkley, could be handed protected status similar to that of a National Park without the need for new legislation, the writer leading a Government review of England’s green spaces hinted yesterday.
Julian Glover, who was meeting campaigners calling for a “new kind” of park that would help protect the 462 sq mile landscape, said: “This sort of thing can take place without creating big, bureaucratic structures.
“We don’t just want to create more officials to run it.”
Asked if protection would stop the encroachment of building on green-belt land, he said: “This isn’t about saying what you can’t do – it’s about trying to make the things that do happen better.”
IT IS the only upland landscape in England not to fall under the protective umbrella of a National Park or similar authority.
And yesterday, its guardians seized the opportunity to persuade a government envoy to do something about it.
Straddling Yorkshire’s border with Lancashire and taking in Ilkley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge and the moors inbetween, the 462 square miles of the South Pennines have long been a bone of contention. Considered but rejected for inclusion in the original list of National Parks after the war, on the grounds that they were too industrial, their status has been debated ever since.
“There is unity over this on both sides of the border,” said Helen Noble, the chief executive of Pennine Prospects, a consortium of public and private bodies campaigning for the creation of a South Pennine Park.
The model for such an institution lies not in the National Parks of the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, nor in the officially designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Nidderdale and the Howardian Hills, but in a post-industrial landscape further south.
The Lee Valley Regional Park was created between the Thames and the Ware in the north-east of Greater London, taking in the sites of the 2012 Olympics, and Ms Noble said there was “a galvanisation of opinion” to secure something similar on the Yorkshire borders.
“We could go ahead and do it anyway, but there is an importance in getting recognition at government level for a different approach to managing landscapes and creating a park for the 21st century,” she said.
Tacit recognition came yesterday in the form of
Julian Glover, a writer who is conducting a review of ways to make England’s National Parks and other green spaces fit for the future, on behalf of the Environment Secretary, Michael Gove.
Mr Glover had accepted an invitation to visit South Pennines and spent the day with campaigners and officials who have drawn up plans for the first park of its kind. Its area would take in some two-thirds of the
Bradford district, including Keighley and Bingley, and would be within a 30-minute journey of an estimated 8m people in and around Leeds, Bradford and Manchester.
“It’s the largest conurbation in the country outside London and from those city centres you
can see the hills of the South Pennines,” Ms Noble said.
“The area is unique. It’s literally on the doorstep and that’s why it’s so important to preserve its health and wellbeing of these communities that live on the fringes of the urban areas. They are their beating heart.”
Mr Glover said the South Pennines did not fit the mould of rural national parks, but added: “You don’t have to go to the Dales or the North York Moors to find something special.”
He told The Yorkshire Post: “It is a pretty stunning landscape. But they are starting
from scratch here. There is no Government designation, so they’re asking how they can work together to provide a better economy for the area, and help people understand what’s special about where they live and also get some identity.”
There is unity over this on both sides of the border.
Helen Noble, the chief executive of Pennine Prospects.
IF CAMPAIGNERS get their way, this may not be the case for much longer – but as it stands, the South Pennines is the only upland landscape in England not to be protected by national park or similar status.
As such, it is seldom the first recourse for a day out – not when the peerless Dales, Moors and coast are also on our collective doorstep.
That is a shame, because the area which straddles the Yorkshire border and takes in Ilkley and Haworth, as well as its spiritual centre in Hebden Bridge, is one of the most diverse and attractive areas in our region. There is the industrial heritage, of course, but also 2,000 miles of paths and bridleways.
The South Pennines have a character distinct from the surrounding area, and that’s why a move is afoot to have it designated a regional park, in a similar manner to the one that now protects the Lee Valley in London.
This is not a new idea but Michael Gove’s review of our national assets holds out some hope that it may finally be realised. It would not be before time.