Five-year development scheme sought for Yorkshire Dales

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) has announced it is launching the six-week consultation exercise to find out development ideas for the Dales to produce a National Park Management Plan (NPMP) for 2013 – 2018.

The document will set out objectives for the YDNPA and other organisations working in the national park – more than 95 per cent of which is privately owned.

The announcement comes as a public consultation is taking place over another over-arching planning blueprint to provide locations for affordable homes to tackle a deepening housing crisis in the Yorkshire Dales.

Carl Lis, chairman of the YDNPA, said: “The document is a management plan for the national park and not just for the national park authority so it is very important that we get organisations and individuals to work together in looking after it – in fact it’s essential, given that more than 95 per cent of the National Park is in private ownership.

“It’s in everyone’s best interests that we have a combined and integrated approach, which means we need as much input as possible from people so that we can get it right.”

Gary Smith, the YDNPA’s director of conservation and community, said: “The plan should be a straightforward document that sets out a shared view of the kind of place we want the national park to be.

“It should also show what needs to be done to achieve the objectives and make it easy for people to see whether progress is being made.

“We hope that – as for past NPMPs – organisations and individuals will give us their views and ideas during the consultation period so that we can produce a document that is the best for the National Park.”

The consultation comes to an end on April 30 and it is hoped that a full draft of the plan will be completed by September.

The housing plans consultation – which includes 30 sites for development – comes to an end on April 10.

To comment on either, visit the YDNPA’s website at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk.