A NATIONAL park has said it remains on track to meet its target to increase the production of renewable energy, despite a sharp decline in new schemes.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority heard it aimed to boost take-up of small-scale renewable energy so that at least five megawatts is installed in the area by this year, and it had already achieved 4.2 megawatts. Its director of conservation, Gary Smith, told members: “We saw a real spike in renewable energy. And then the last couple of years it has just died off.”

He said the causes of the decline were unclear, but said it could relate to the Government lowering its tariffs for electricity production.

Mr Smith said there had also been a decline in biomass boiler schemes in the park.

He said: “It’s fair to say the energy efficiency agenda has gone off the radar a bit at the national level. It’s not that things aren’t happening, they’re just not happening at the speed we would have expected a few years ago.”