Dales tourism boom put at risk by more targeted farm subsidies

THE GROWING value of tourism in the Yorkshire Dales is at risk of being eroded by falling levels of financial support for farmers.
Pic: Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.Pic: Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
Pic: Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

Tourism is estimated to be worth £237m to the Yorkshire Dales National Park - 11 per cent more than in 2012 - but fears have been raised that local farmers are facing a significant reduction in financial support for managing the very landscapes that bring thousands of visitors to the area every year.

In an annual report on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s seven-year management plan, steering group members highlight how ‘Environmental Stewardship’ payments to farmers, administered by Natural England, fell from £10.2m in 2014/15 to £7.1m at the end of the last financial year.

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That figure could decline further as agreements under the national Environmental Stewardship Scheme come to an end. Those fears are fuelled by a lack of information, with no figures available yet on the number of farmers who have signed up to the replacement ‘Countryside Stewardship’ Scheme in this year’s second application round - which remains open. In the first year of the scheme, last year, Natural England issued more than 2,500 agreement offers to farmers and landowners for measures to improve water quality and the environment for birds and bees.

In the steering group report, Gary Smith, the national park’s director of conservation and community, warned of “serious ramifications” from changes to national agri-environment schemes.

“As a result of national cuts to funding and the design of the new scheme, it is likely that we will see significant reductions in the area of scheme coverage in the coming years,” Mr Smith said.

“This could have significant effects on the viability of many farm holdings - particularly those ‘High Nature Value’, low intensity farming systems, prevalent in the Yorkshire Dales and particularly valuable for wildlife, the environment and people.”

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Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Mr Smith added: “In terms of what we offer to people who come and visit the Dales, a lot of that comes from the way farmers manage the land.

“If we want to have High Nature Value farms then that depends on farmers getting public finance because the market doesn’t pay for this at the moment in a sensible or fair way. Agri-environment schemes are important - for some farmers it accounts for 30 per cent of their income.”

There is £900m of EU funding available to farmers in England under the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme to protect and improve the natural environment.

Another £2.1bn will continue to fund farmers who are already in environmental schemes from the previous programme, according to Natural England.

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A spokesperson for the agency said: “Given the targeted nature of Countryside Stewardship, we wouldn’t expect the same volume of applications as under the former Environmental Stewardship scheme. However, we’ve made a number of improvements to the scheme this year and we anticipate we’ll receive more applications as farmers become familiar with the scheme and Environmental Stewardship agreements gradually expire.”

The spokesperson added: “We’re working closely with farmers who have agreements coming to an end to provide advice and support with the application process and help them move over to Countryside Stewardship.”

MOBILE PHONE COVERAGE PLANS STALL

Another major area of concern highlighted by the steering group for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s management plan is the lack of progress in improving mobile phone coverage in the park.

Progress has stalled in the last 12 months due to the Government’s abandonment of its national Mobile Infrastructure Project which set out to provide coverage to rural ‘not spots’.

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The authority has a target to provide at least basic mobile phone coverage to “all significant clusters of properties” in the park by 2018.

Park director Gary Smith said he was hopeful that technological advances would help improve coverage over time.