The Quantocks deserve national park status
SIR – The decision by Liz Truss, the Environment Secretary, to extend the boundaries of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks (report, October 24) will be welcomed by residents and visitors.
I hope Miss Truss will now consider protecting Somerset’s Quantock Hills, which became England’s first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1956.
An extension of Exmoor National Park’s eastern boundary as far as Nether Stowey, north to East Quantoxhead and south to West Bagborough is long overdue to provide further protection to this beautiful landscape.
The coalition government’s 2012 National Planning Policy Framework stated that for planning consent AONBs had equal status with national parks. Yet without the protection of a unified planning authority, the 46 AONBs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are clearly in a much weaker position to oppose unwelcome development.
Philip Duly
Haslemere, Surrey