Defra has at last bitten the bullet and published the results of its review of how National Park Authorities in England are run. On a day in which Labour Leader Ed Miliband got heckled at the TUC conference and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond called trains “a rich man’s toy” you could be forgiven for missing these “Big Society plans” – but then National Park Authority governance was never really destined to set the world alight, was it?
What do the government’s proposals mean in practice? Well the short answer is nothing immediately as many of the actions need legislative change or further consultation before they can be taken forward. The membership of some authorities will reduce slightly (Dartmoor and the Lake District), with common sense ideas such as consistent terms of appointment for all types of authority member at last finding favour. In the longer term, the proposals are intended to give local people a stronger voice in how National Park Authorities work.
The greatest attention is likely to focus on the direct election pilots announced for the New Forest and the Peak District – local consultation will determine how these will work and they will prove a useful exercise in gathering evidence and experience to inform future decisions on the extent to which they should be taken forward. I think it’s fair to say that direct elections would not have been a headline announcement, were it not for the fact that the Lib Dems are a partner in the Coalition Government. Interestingly, proposals for direct elections to police authorities have met with opposition from some quarters, including the Lib Dems.
The proposal to remove the requirement on local councils to apply a political balance when appointing three or more members to a Park Authority is interesting. While sold as a technical detail we’ll be monitoring this change to ensure that it does not lead to unintended consequences such as politicisation of the authorities.
A couple of other things caught my eye such as Exmoor deciding to call itself the Exmoor National Park Service and the North York Moors’ investigation of the role that social enterprises might play in delivering some Park services.
Encouragingly, government also reaffirmed the National Parks as our most treasured landscapes (take note Mr Osborne ready for the next spending review) and the importance of independent authorities running them. Personally, I’d like to see the governance review implemented as quickly as possible so that the Authorities can get on with their important tasks of Park conservation and management.
