Landscape Protection
National Park Authorities: funding priorities
Defra expectations for the National Parks 2005/06 - 2007/08, revised May 2006
These guidelines have been produced in consultation with the Countryside Agency and the National Park Authorities, to highlight those areas on which Defra particularly expects progress to be made during the years covered by the 2004 Spending Review. It is not a definitive list of activities for each Authority.
a. Promote the principles of sustainable development as a means of achieving a more sustainable way of living in the Parks which will enhance and conserve local culture, wildlife, landscape, land use and community;
b. Implement relevant provisions in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 as these come into force, in particular ensuring that systems are in place to introduce, manage and promote the new right of access to open countryside;
c. Actively promote understanding and greater use of National Parks by all sections of society, especially people with disabilities, people from ethnic minorities, the inner cities and young people;
d. In the light of the findings of the Countryside Agency study into the recreational capacity of the Parks, work with Defra and the Agency to promote the widest range of sustainable recreational opportunities within the Parks which they are capable of absorbing and fulfil the commitments made in the Health Concordat 2005 agreed by the Association of National Park Authorities, the Countryside Agency, English Nature, the Forestry Commission, and Sport England;
e. Promote wildlife conservation and cultural heritage by:
- contributing to the delivery of Defra's Public Service Agreement target to bring 95% of Sites of Special Scientific Interest into favourable condition by 2010, both on the Park's own estate and across the Park as a whole;
- contributing to the delivery of Defra's Public Service Agreement target to reverse the decline in farmland birds, the England Biodiversity Strategy and UK Biodiversity Action Plan targets, and implementing recommendations 9 and 10 (biodiversity monitoring and delivery) of the National Parks Review;
- engaging with partners and the wider public in the appreciation and care of the broad cultural heritage of the Parks; and
- contributing to DCMS’s review of Heritage protection.
f. Work with others:
- support sustainable rural development projects which further National Park purposes, working with RDAs, RDS and sub-regional partners;
- add value by providing targeted support for individual projects and schemes either separately or in partnership with government departments and agencies;
- seek corporately and individually to develop and promote other sources of funding, such as Lottery schemes, to support National Park purposes;
- continue to work with authorities responsible for administering AONBs;
g. Corporately and individually, continue to take forward work on the state of the park indicators as important contributing information to the management of the Parks;
h. Work with Defra and others to implement the Rural Strategy 2004, including the creation of an effective new organisation in Natural England.
i. Working with DCLG, comtinue to improve performance and service delivery in all functional areas.
Specific to the Broads Authority, and in addition to the above:
j. Work with the Environment Agency and its contractors to maximise the benefits of the Broadland Flood Alleviation Project for conservation, recreation, tourism and navigation;
k. Work with Defra to implement the agreed recommendations of the Broads Review, including new statutory powers as necessary.
Page last modified:
03 July 2006
Page published: 30 October 2003