THE influential Yorkshire Dales Society has raised some interesting issues in its comments on the role of national parks.

Defra is currently reviewing the work of all the park authorities and the society has submitted a detailed response to the department.

Among the ideas it wants considered are park members being required to sign a "declaration of support for national park purposes". It also wants to put them through compulsory training sessions to ensure they are "fully up to speed with a range of environmental and social issues."

It then suggests that the Countryside Agency should "monitor the performance of individual authority members" and if they "consistently try to undermine national park purposes" they should be replaced.

Harsh treatment indeed for park authority members who "go native" and side with their local constituents over, typically, a planning issue.

It rather conjures up the Orwellian prospect of a Countryside Agency thought police, minutely examining the utterings of recalcitrant members and, as in 1984, sending them to a "Room 101" at the Grassington or Helmsley headquarters to be brought into line.

The Winston Smiths of our national park authorities have been warned.

Bigger and better?

DARLINGTON councillors may yet live to regret their decision to remove most of the large advertising hoardings in the town on the grounds that they distract motorists.

(It is merely a digression to wonder why the notable exception is the huge specimen, permanently occupied by Asda to the chagrin of the nearby Safeway store, slap beside one of the busiest inner ring road roundabouts.)

Worse than hoardings could be to come, with the advent of "wraps" - four-storey high banners which can be quickly and easily erected on scaffolding round construction and renovation sites or even on buildings themselves.

Far bigger than any hoarding, far more intrusive and, presumably, far more of a distraction to motorists, but so quick and easy to put up and take down that planning departments seem powerless.