The Cumbria boundary in Mallerstang, one of the areas proposed for inclusion in an enlarged Yorkshire Dales park
A county council has said it will fight ‘tooth and nail’ proposals to extend the national park boundaries in its area.
Cumbria County Council said the plans were anti-democratic and pandered to those who ‘see Cumbria as a nice place to holiday rather than somewhere to live’.
The vow came in the wake of Natural England’s announcement yesterday that it would recommend to Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman that part of Cumbria be taken into the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District national parks.
Councillor Tim Knowles, the county’s cabinet member responsible for environment, said the extension of the national park is anti-democratic, will make housing even less affordable for local people, and risks undermining key national infrastructure projects for the county.
“I have grave concerns about Natural England’s proposals,” he said. “We have here an organisation based in Sheffield making recommendations about Cumbria which go against the opinions voiced by all of the democratically elected local authorities in Cumbria.
“At what point will local voices be properly heard in this consultation?
“Extending the boundaries of the national parks will be handing over responsibility for countryside access and planning to unelected members, thus creating a democratic deficit.
“Natural England claim the changes will ‘ensure that these special landscapes are looked after for future generations to enjoy’ but I fear that, if you’re a young person living in Cumbria and hoping to be able to one day buy a house here, then the creeping footprint of the national park is going to make that impossible.
“We have a very productive and positive working relationship with the national parks, particularly the Lake District National Park Authority, so our argument is not with them.
“It’s with the people who see Cumbria as a nice place to holiday rather than somewhere to live and have a sustainable economy. These are already beautiful and unspoilt areas under the current system, we don’t need to throw another ring of bureaucracy around local people for no reason. The county council will fight these recommendations tooth and nail.”
Natural England, the Government’s advisory body on the outdoors, recommended extending the two national parks yesterday, removing the anomaly of having only half the Howgill Fells in the Dales national park. Other areas proposed for inclusion in the new Dales area are parts of the Orton Fells; Wild Boar Fell and Mallerstang; Barbon, Middleton, Casterton and Leck Fells; the River Lune and part of Firbank Fell and other fells to the west of the river.
The proposed variation to the Lake District National Park includes an area from Birkbeck Fells Common to Whinfell Common; and to the south an area from Helsington Barrows to Sizergh Fell, and part of the Lyth Valley.
Stu
29 September 2011Mmmm, sounds a bit like a councillor who is more worried about losing his job that someone who is really concerned with the people of Cumbria. After all, I thought most of the actual people were in favour of the extensions, it was only the councils who disagreed.
R Cliffe
29 September 2011Refreshing to see the view point of the local community reflected. The countryside should not be treated as if it were a museum or holiday park for the better off. We have large tracts of countryside which once supported vibrant, self contained, communities which have become 'sterile' retirement destinations or dormitories for the better off who work in the Town. Remaining local people find their children priced out of local housing and planning applications for any business related activity treated with horror and too often stamped upon.
Tony Blair
29 September 2011Save the country from the tory scum
chrisbagshaw
30 September 2011County is missing the point here, but Natural England are also behaving very oddly. Why would the Eden Valley want/need/benefit from being placed in the 'Yorkshire' Dales? At the very least the Orton Fells should be in the LDNP - at least that way it is not people from Leeds and Bradford who are making arbitrary decisions, but pleasant folk from Silloth and Penrith. And why would we lose our planners to ones based in Bainbridge? This feels almost like a bold opening gambit from NE. What is their actual agenda?
the howgill reiver
30 September 2011Ignore Cumbria County Council -most folk who live here do -they are a total irrelevance to this debate. The County is 'governed' by a cabinet system therefore local people have no voice anyway! People like Cllr Knowles etc just speak for the urban fringes not the rural areas -and as has been said most people living in the areas proposed for nat park expansion (myself included) are very much in favour of the extensions. It is a total red herring to whine about 'affordable housing' - the areas affected are sparsely populated and have few houses in the 1st place let alone a 'demand' for more.
It is not about false admin boundaries like Cumbria which are just civil servants playing with pens -its about what makes sense in terms of geography/geology -and the howgills are one place irrespective of some being in the old west riding and some being in old westmorland.
Dump Cumbria i say and we may get a more representative form of local government that isn't beholden to what happens in barrow or Carlisle!
MS
01 October 2011When are the elected councils going to listen to the people who elect them. It seems as though they are worried they might lose out on something here.
The Piglit
02 October 2011Beware, imperialism masquerading as liberation.
R Webb
02 October 2011"The countryside should not be treated as if it were a museum or holiday park for the better off."
Oh get real - that is exactly what it is.
You try buying a house in your village! The cities are full of us, driven far from our roots and heritage. Rural England is a rich ***s exclusive plaything.
This proposal will help bring in work and income and can only hurt those in charge of the drawbridges - oh and wind farmers.
Shame we don't have the same protection of the revenue producing wonders of Scotland.
mike in cumberland
24 April 2012the parts of the west riding around sedbergh and dent up to the westmorland border along the lune were always the boundaries of the national park,,,,,if it is beneficial for the westmorland residents beyond yorkshires historic lune border to be insde the park then that is a matter for them,,and it could be called western dales or something,,,,but it certainly is not a matter for a jumped up,irrelevant, remote and discredited bunch such as cumbria council,,,,the sooner thy are abolished the better.