Liberal Democrat councillors are determined to fight to keep control of the Peak District National Park in local hands after rumours of a takeover by Whitehall mandarins.
Councillor Hazel Gloster is bringing a motion to the next meeting of Oldham Council (14 July 2021) calling for the Peak District National Park Authority to be retained, rather than abolished and absorbed into a new National Landscape Authority. This drastic action was recommended two years ago after the Glover Review, and Councillor Gloster has no doubt this will be a retrograde step.
Councillor Gloster outlined her concerns: “At present, our local National Park is managed locally by an authority board with local representatives, including one Councillor from Oldham Council. If the authority is abolished there will be no accountability to local people and local councils, and the park will be one amongst many managed from Whitehall by faceless bureaucrats with no connection to the area.”
The motion is being backed by new Councillor Mark Kenyon who feels strongly that the authority is worth saving. “The Peak District National Park is an amazing natural resource, right on our doorstep. Especially during lockdown, the Park has been a lifeline to many offering tranquility and a breath of fresh air, particularly to the many people in the borough without a back yard or garden”, added Councillor Kenyon. “In the post-Covid world it’s important that we all get a say on how this area is managed and how it can be improved. Without local management, our needs will be drowned out by priorities set in London.”
The Leader of the Oldham Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, wrote in May to the Minister responsible for National Parks, Lord Benyon, outlining his objections to the transfer of power, and the motion asks for the support of neighbouring local authorities covered by the Peak District and Oldham’s three local Members of Parliament in this fight to preserve the Park Authority.
The motion tabled at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (14 July 2021) reads:
Hands off our Peak District National Park
Council notes that:
- 2021 is the 70th anniversary of the Peak District and other National Parks
- Our precious National Parks represent an irreplaceable national natural resource which provide enjoyment, education and employment for countless thousands of people every year and are treasured and loved by millions more.
- At present, every National Park is managed by its own LOCAL Park Authority with LOCAL representatives who know and serve the community and keep LOCAL oversight. The Park District National Park Authority includes an appointed representative from Oldham Council.
Council is therefore gravely concerned that the Glover Review of 2019 proposed the replacement of the local National Parks Authorities with a National Landscape Service which would centralise services under one, nationally run, new organisation, and that the Government is giving active consideration to accepting this recommendation.
Council is opposed to the replacement of the locally run National Parks Authorities because:
- It is contrary to the Government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda which involves government decentralising power and working more directly with local partners and communities.
- The 2019 Conservative Party Manifesto stated that “the days of Whitehall knows best are over” (p.26) and pledged to give communities of all sizes far more control. This Council questions how a centralist National Landscapes Service would achieve this.
- The move is contrary to international good practice in the management of protected landscapes which emphasises the importance of management being undertaken with, and through, local people and mainly for, and by, them.
- Locally run and locally managed National Parks consider local circumstances and take account of local feelings and requirements without the burdensome red-tape of national management.
Council therefore resolves to:
- Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State urging them not to replace local National Parks Authorities with a National Landscape Service or to take any step which will remove or degrade their powers
- Ask the Chief Executive to send a copy of this letter to the Chair of the Peak District National Park Authority
- Ask the Chief Executive to also copy in our three local MPs and the Chief Executives of other local authorities covered by the Peak District National Park asking for their support and/or similar action
Proposed by: Seconded by:
Councillor Hazel Gloster Councillor Mark Kenyon