Farmers hope for deal with M&S after royal approval

Upland sheep farmers in the national park have already landed a three-year contract to supply supermarket giant Asda with 3,000 lambs a year.

Now negotiations are under way with Marks & Spencer to agree a contract to supply hill lambs, Rachel Spillman, the park's performance officer, has revealed.

Both successes came after a visit by the Prince of Wales to several hill farmers nearly two years ago, as part of his Seeing is Believing initiative, when a group of hill farmers from the National Park came together to form Seven Hill Farmers Ltd.

Trials subsequently began with Asda, which saw the retailer selling packs of lamb specifically labelled as being from the North York Moors National Park.

News of the potential new deal is revealed as Ms Spillman's new report on the state of the national park revealed mixed fortunes

There has been a sharp drop in village services with a 63 per cent fall in the number of post offices, and 30 per cent of general stores, with a fall of four per cent in pubs.

However, communities are prospering in other ways with the number of village halls up by 16 per cent and children's play areas by 29 per cent, the report says.

Progress was also being made on the environmental and heritage fronts. There has been a number of improvements in conservation.

There had been great progress made with 50 scheduled monuments rescued in the past year, while the number of listed buildings rescued was 88.

Some 30 affordable homes have been built, at Helmsley, Chop Gate, Danby and Castleton, and a further 24 are due for completion this year at Fylingthorpe, Hinderwell, and Lythe.

Wildlife figures show an increase in populations of lapwing, golden plover, and snipe, while the number of curlew has risen 25 per cent said Ms Spillman.

However, tourists are ignoring advice to leave their cars at home. Another finding is that while the number of visitor days spent in the park in a year is now 10.5m, a two per cent drop, the volume of traffic is up 12 per cent.