NATIONAL Park bosses have been told by the Secretary of State for the Environment that they have an important role in achieving the government’s “core goals”.
Theresa Villiers spoke via video link to delegates at the UK National Parks Conference, hosted for the first time since 2000 by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
Ms Villiers told the conference that the government has core goals which include connecting people with nature and protecting biodiversity.
She said this includes an entirely new system of farm support, which focuses on rewarding farmers for their produce and also for their stewardship of the countryside.
The Authority's Chairman, Carl Lis, introduced the conference’s theme of ‘New Horizons’ and said: “It is particularly exciting to be hosting the conference in this 70th anniversary year of the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act.
"Over the next three days, we’ll be celebrating the history of National Parks across the UK, giving people the opportunity to experience a few of the special qualities of the Yorkshire Dales and looking to the future through our theme of ‘New Horizons’.”
Delegates at the Coniston Hotel also heard from representatives of the Scottish and Welsh governments, as well as from Defra’s deputy director of land use policy, Marie Southgate.
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