Give residents say on parks urge Lib Dems on ‘black day for Dales’

THE NEW-LOOK Yorkshire Dales National Park must be accountable to the people who live and work there with a directly elected authority, the leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron has said.

The Government announced on Friday they are to expand the Yorkshire Dales by 24 per cent to include parts of Cumbria, while an extension to the Lake District would almost join the two areas together in one continuous stretch of protected landscape.

Mr Farron said Scottish national parks such as the Cairngorms, which was created in the 1970s, have directly elected authorities that help the organisations have a more harmonious relationship with local residents as well as effectively highlight specific local needs.

His comments come as one Yorkshire Dales National Park authority member, John Blackie, who is also an independent North Yorkshire County Councillor, described the Conservative plan for expansion was a ‘black day for the future of the local communities in the Dales.’

He is fearful that expanding the park without providing additional resources, will mean the authority membership doesn’t increase in size, but instead tries to represent a larger geographical area.

He said: “We can soon expect proposals where district and county councillors with pure national park electorates are replaced with those on the very periphery of the extended area.

“For example a Lancaster City Councillor with 200 electors or a Lancashire County Councillor with 475 electors in the extended Yorkshire Dales National Park will most likely take the place on the YDNPA, and possibly on its planning committee, of say a Richmondshire or Craven District Councillor with 1,000 electors or a North Yorkshire County Councillor with 4,750 electors.

“Of course if the number of members of the YDNPA remains the same then North Yorkshire District and county councillors will be replaced by an increased number of district and county councillors from Cumbria.”

He queries whether any new members could properly represent Dales communities, while also added his concerns about planning restraints for farmers,

National park planning rules demand full planning permission for a agricultural barn to be turned into a barn or dwelling,

However Tim Farron, whose constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale is partially absorbed into the new national park, said expansion ought to have gone ‘hand in hand’ with a democratically elected number of people on the park authority.

He said areas such as Barbon and Casterton in Cumbria, will now have decisions made over housing, planning and environmental matters by people who aren’t held to account, nor with the expertise of what those specific communities need.

“I’m not opposed to expansion, but opposed to the fact the Government are doing it while not addressing the need to make the national park democratic,” he said.

He referenced the Cairngorms National Park created in the 1970s, with a democratic form of governance, as a success story.

He said: “They were set up with a democratic elections and folk up there tend to have a much more benign relationship with their national park than in the Lakes and Dales.”

He said the relatively smooth decision to build village An Camas Mor, near Aviemore within the Cairngorms park, had been helped by the fact the community felt properly represented on the national park authority.

This was an opportunity to democratise national parks.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, on the failure to increase representation.