National Park funding fears expressed

This week a national charity warned of the likely impacts of cutting the budgets of National Parks generally, as Ministers decided the final figures for today’s expected announcement on its spending review.

The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) has joined forces with the National Park Societies in England to send a stark message to the Government that cutting National Park budgets will have far-reaching consequences.

CNP’s Chief Executive Helen Jackson said: “Our National Parks provide outstanding value for public money and cuts to them will affect the level of services that they deliver for the public. This would be a loss to the nation as a whole.

“For example, cuts to visitor services, rangers and the education role will diminish visitors’ experience at a time when we need more people enjoying National Parks. Other activities likely to be hit hard include business investment, farming and green energy and transport schemes.

“We are asking the Government to ensure that cuts to National Park funding are kept to the absolute minimum – this is especially important because of the importance of central government funding to National Park Authorities and the Broads Authority and because of the benefits that they provide to the nation.

“Unlike their local government counterparts, National Park Authorities cannot raise local rates to meet any shortfall in funding – the grant from central government is a lifeline to their continued success and enables them to attract match-funding from other sources.”

The news has come at a time when there has been widespread comment about the amount of money involved in the country’s latest National Park becoming operational.

In addition to running costs, extensive criticism has been levelled at the cost of proposed headquarters at Midhurst, where chosen premises are far from the centre of the new park and require costly conversion