A Mosaic Partnership group at Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales

A Mosaic Partnership group at Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales

A three-and-a-half-year project to encourage members of ethnic minorities to use national parks has come to an end – but organisers have pledged to carry on the work to ensure people carry on walking.

The Mosaic Partnership involved four national parks: the Yorkshire Dales, Brecon Beacons, Peak District and North York Moors and was overseen by the Campaign for National Parks. The £1m scheme encouraged ethnic minorities to enjoy the parks on their doorsteps and trained ‘community champions’ to organise trips for groups and persuade their neighbours of the worth of visiting the countryside.

The Yorkshire Dales national park says it will continue the work, which has been a great success. Activities tackled by visitors from ethnic-minority groups include geocaching in the Buckden area and a walk up Pen-y-ghent, one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

Outreach officer Catherine Kemp said: “The Mosaic Project’s main objective was to encourage inner city residents to enjoy the UK’s national parks and it has certainly done that.

“It has been a huge success locally involving scores of people from ethnic minorities in Keighley, Bradford and other outside areas coming in to the national park to go on walks or to look around the villages and the countryside.

”We have recruited Community Champions, who have spent time in the Yorkshire Dales learning about its beauty and its attractions before going back and organising trips here for others in their communities.

“In fact, it has been so successful that we have decided to carry on the work with the Community Champions in Bradford and Keighley in the future”.

Nurjuhan Ali Arobi, a member of the Bradford community, said: “Mosaic gave me the skills and confidence to promote the Yorkshire Dales and help my community access the national park.

“Before, we would not have been aware of what was available there in terms of facilities, let alone the sheer natural beauty and that it was a place for us all to enjoy.”

The project also got the thumbs-up from Jonathan Shaw, the minister responsible for national parks. He said: “I think the innovative approach to long-term engagement will be key to attracting minority communities to our national parks. Active engagement like this within contemporary urban Britain should be held up as a fantastic example to others.”

The CNP says it is now hoping to build on the achievements of the Mosaic Partnership with an even more ambitious national project, which would involve all 12 National Parks in England and Wales, and work with ethnic minority communities in over 20 cities that are suffering from high deprivation and a lack of access to green space.

So far, the Mosaic Partnership has appointed 200 community champions under the scheme.

The Heritage Lottery Fund provided most of the cash for the project, which was also supported by Natural England, YHA, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide and the Countryside Council for Wales.