THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL PARKS
Britain currently has 15 national parks and 46 AONBs – but the numbers could go up. In 2018, the Government commissioned the Landscapes Review: an in-depth, independent report looking at the future management of Britain’s landscapes. Its wide-ranging remit was to look at land use, leisure access, conservation, biodiversity and the threats posed by climate change.
The panel (led by writer Julian Glover) published its report in September 2019, with 12 key recommendations including:
• Support for a new national park in the Chilterns and a new National Forest, based around Sherwood Forest.
• A new National Landscapes Service to act as a unified body for England’s national parks and AONBs
• A 1000-strong ranger service to be the ‘friendly face’ of national parks and help engage schools and communities
• New programmes to increase numbers of BAME visitors
• Giving every school pupil the opportunity to spend a night ‘under the stars’ in these special landscapes to help more children to connect with nature
• Recovering and enhancing nature by working with farmers and conservation groups to reverse years of decline
The report also mentions other possible new national parks, including the Cotswolds, the combined Dorset and East Devon AONBs, and the Forest of Dean.
Separately, in November last year, PM Boris Johnson announced that the creation of new national parks would form part of his ‘ten-point plan’ for a green economic recovery.
Environment agency Defra insists the review and its recommendations haven’t been forgotten despite the pandemic. A spokesperson told Country Walking: “The review set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
“We welcome this ambition, and we have been actively engaging with stakeholders to inform our response to the review, which we intend to publish in due course.”
We’ll keep you posted. But in the meantime, we threw the question to social media: which areas would you like to see getting new status and protection?
Here are the most popular ‘dream’ answers…