Parks authority rules out wolves reintroduction to Yorkshire Dales

A nature recovery strategy for the Yorkshire Dales will not lead to wolves and big cats roaming the national park, a meeting has been told, but it will set out to encourage action to help struggling species.

A meeting of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority heard agreeing an ecological plan was important as government and private funding available to farmers and landowners in the Dales was likely to be tied to environmental issues.

However, it also heard that a consensus had yet to be agreed between interest groups on several issues, such as the amount of trees which should be planted in the park.

Senior officers said it would not be possible to reach a resolution over all areas of contention, but as fresh government environmental policies were expected the strategy would not be finalised before June next year.

The strategy is being developed after studies identified how the park has significant areas of 17 different habitats and more than 100 different species that are UK priorities and have been facing national declines.

Yorkshire Dales.

Yorkshire Dales.

It also follows a commitment by interest groups in the park to making “the Yorkshire Dales home to the finest variety of wildlife in England”.

The park’s nationally important wildlife populations include black grouse,  rare plants such as bird’s-eye primrose, globeflower and baneberry, scarce invertebrates such as the northern brown argus butterfly and mammals, such as the red squirrel.

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It is hoped the strategy will help create networks for the park’s abundant wildlife to increase biodiversity in its surrounding areas.

The draft strategy proposes what officers have described as a “relatively modest” increase in the proportion of the park covered by native woodland  from 4.5% to 7% alongside creating nature recovery areas across 15% of the park.

Although both targets have been criticised as insufficently ambitious by some, several members raised concerns over calls to radically change the management of land, and in particular burning of the heather moorland to encourage regrowth and habitats for grouse, following proposals to phase it out.

Environmentalists have cited how a University of Leeds study concluded burning grouse moors degrades peatland habitat, releases climate-altering gases, reduces biodiversity and increases flood risk.

However, Wensleydale farmer Allen Kirkbride told the meeting long heather caused “chaos for square miles” when it caught fire. 

He said: 

“The idea of not burning heather is ludicrous.”

The authority’s outgoing member champion for the environment, Ian McPherson, said it faced a challenge in deciding how much of the national park should be set aside for nature recovery areas.

He said:

“What we are trying to do is get a good balance between the needs of environmentalists, farmers and land managers.”

Mr McPherson said while the possibility of reintroducing some native species to the area was being considered as part of the strategy it would not see “wolves and lynx and so on roaming the Yorkshire Dales”, but instead seek to raise awareness some species were at a low ebb.

New bus service to link Harrogate and Knaresborough with Yorkshire Dales

Improved bus links from Harrogate and Knaresborough to the Yorkshire Dales will begin this weekend.

A new service, DalesBus 74, will run every Saturday from Knaresborough and Harrogate to Ilkley, Bolton Abbey and Grassington. 

The Reliance bus leaves from Knaresborough Bus Station (stand C) at 9.10am and Harrogate Bus Station (stand 2) at 9.25am. It returns from Grassington at 5pm and Bolton Abbey at 5.25pm.

There are also minor changes to DalesBus 59, running between Harrogate and Skipton on Saturdays, from this weekend.  All journeys will return from Skipton five minutes later, and the bus will no longer call at Millstones.

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From July 3, a service called Eastern DalesBus 825 will run on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Harrogate to Brimham Rocks, Fountains Abbey, Masham, Leyburn and Richmond.

These services are managed by Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company, which aims to improve sustainable access to the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

Dales Rover day tickets are £10 for adults and £18 for any group of up to two adults and three children.  Concessionary bus passes for the elderly and disabled are valid for free travel on DalesBus 59 and DalesBus 74.

Tickets are available from the driver.

Yorkshire Dales Park Authority approves ambitious £11.2m spend

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has approved its most ambitious programme of projects since being established in 1954.

But a meeting of the authority at Tennants in Leyburn heard that the £11.2 million spending plan for the coming financial year would be unsustainable in coming years as government funds had halved and it was being supported by new external funding and the extensive use of reserves.

Officers have warned that without a rise in its government grant the scale of the necessary budget cutbacks are likely to result in reduced services and work programmes from next year.

Referring to its government grant, the authority’s director of conservation and community Gary Smith told members:

“Essentially we are getting the same amount now as we were getting in 2010. What has changed is the amount of income we have generated from other sources.”

The meeting heard the authority’s spending this year would soar by some 30% over last year, and featured a huge increase in funding for land management activities, partly due to the authority’s success in attracting grants from a range of bodies.

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Members were told the Defra-funded Farming In Protected Landscapes and Woodland Trust’s Grow Back Greener initiatives were each supporting three authority staff as well as directly investing almost £2 million into the national park’s farms and businesses.

After being asked if the authority should be holding back more of its reserves its chief executive David Butterworth said using them was partly about wanting to deliver on the authority’s aims.

He added the decision to use the majority of its unallocated reserves also related to being “a little nervous about any government and whether they may claw back some reserves if they felt national park authorities were hoarding”.

Mr Butterworth said the authority wanted the government to provide greater longevity for funding projects, likening the authority’s efforts to attract grants from Whitehall to “chasing petals”. Mr Butterworth said:

“When those petals fall away you are left with nothing.”

Ahead of members passing the budget, recreation management member champion Nick Cotton: 

“It is quite extraordinary to think this budget is 50 per cent core grant and 50 per cent self-funding. It is massively different to anything we have experienced in the past. We are into unknown territory.

“We have got a budget ahead of us this year that we can all be proud of, delivering more than we have ever done. We’re keeping an eye on how things will change for next year.”

“We have got a budget ahead of us this year that we can all be proud of, delivering more than we have ever done. We’re keeping an eye on how things will change for next year.”

People in Harrogate district urged to count stars to assess light pollution

People in the Harrogate district are being urged to count the stars in the sky to measure light pollution.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England is carrying out the survey from Saturday, February 26, to Sunday, March 6.

The move comes after the Yorkshire Dales joined 15 other areas as a designated dark sky reserve in 2020.

It’s possible to see thousands of stars, the Milky Way, meteors and even the Northern Lights in some areas on clear nights.

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People are now being urged to sign up on the Campaign to Protect Rural England website where they can submit their counts.

A spokesperson for CPRE North and East Yorkshire added:

“Results from Star Count will be used to help make a map of where star-spotters are enjoying deep, dark skies.

“By showing on a map where light pollution is most serious or has risen, CPRE can work with local councils and others to decide what to do about it.”

A Dark Skies Festival is currently being held in the Yorkshire Dales until March 6. It includes events across the national park area.

Lack of affordable housing ‘killing’ villages in North Yorkshire

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said second homes and holiday lets are “killing” rural communities in places such as North Yorkshire.

Mr Farron told a debate in Parliament last week that more than a quarter of the housing stock in the Yorkshire Dales was not lived in.

He added the majority of properties in some towns and villages were empty most of the year.

Mr Farron, whose constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale in Cumbria is severely affected by second homes, called for action to “shift the dial and save the dales and other rural communities”.

He said:

“Excessive second home ownership is a colossal problem in our communities.

“The collapse of affordable, available housing for local communities is killing towns and villages in Cornwall, Northumberland, Shropshire, Devon, Somerset, North Yorkshire, the highlands of Scotland and rural Wales, as well as in my home of Cumbria.

Mr Farron accused the government of “inexcusable inaction to save our communities” and outlines a seven-point action plan.

The measures included making second homes and holiday lets new and separate categories of planning use so councils and national parks could limit the number of them in each town and village, giving councils the power to increase council tax by up to 100% on second homes in the worst-affected communities and ensuring Airbnb properties “meet the same standards as any other rental”.

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Housing minister Christopher Pincher said rural communities faced “some very specific challenges”, which was why the government had changed the tax system.

“Since 2013, local authorities have been able to levy 100% of council tax on second homes, where the people who own them do not necessarily use the local services that they might, but through the council tax have to contribute to them; 96% of local authorities make use of that opportunity.”

He added changes had been made to stamp duty to help first-time buyers and a surcharge had been introduced for foreign purchasers of property.

Mr Pincher added:

“This issue is also why we have reformed the planning system. It is opaque, slow, and is not predictable. That does not help small and medium-sized enterprises—often the builders who build different types of homes for different tenures in the places that the big builders do not want.

“We need a system that will help those SMEs and is far more engaging.

“We also want, as a reform to be introduced soon, a new infrastructure levy to replace section 106, which tends to favour the bigger developers that can afford the bigger batteries of lawyers.”

Paddle to the stars at Nidderdale reservoir as part of Dark Skies Festival

The dark sky above the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is one of the most beautiful and darkest in the country.

Being free from light pollution, it is the perfect place for families to stargaze.

Now, visitors to one of the area’s top tourist attractions are being invited to view the stars from a canoe at Scar House Reservoir as part of the seventh Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Park Dark Skies Festival.

How Stean Gorge is hosting a series of activities and pizza nights for the festival, which is returning from February 18 until March 6 after it was forced to go virtual last year due to covid restrictions.

It comes after the Yorkshire Dales National Park was officially granted the status of an ‘International Dark Sky Reserve’ at the end of 2020, making it one of the best places in the world to view the skies above.

Astronomy lovers will be able to glide and paddle a rafted canoe on the reservoir, one of three Dark Sky Discovery Sites in the Nidderdale AONB, surrounded by the moon and the stars.

Tony Liddy, head of outdoor education and estates manager at How Stean Gorge, said:

“Scar House Reservoir is one of the darkest places in the UK because there is no light pollution. When the weather is on your side, you can go up there and it is perfect – flat and calm and not a cloud in the sky.

“We do the trips with small numbers, with 16 for each trip, which last around 90 minutes. Saturdays have been booking up fast, so we have opened bookings for Fridays.

“The canoes are rafted together and you head out in groups of six or eight with an instructor. You can then use a pre-downloaded app on your phone to look at the constellations.

“Children from age seven can do the canoeing, so it’s great to do with the kids. Families often come back and do the other activities at How Stean.”

The canoe trips, which will be weather dependent, will take place in February from 7pm until 8.30pm on Saturday 19, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 and in March on Friday 4, Saturday 5, Friday 11 and Saturday 12.

If the canoeing is unable to go ahead, alternative activities, including gorge walking or caving, will be provided.

An International Dark Sky Reserve (IDA) is defined as a ‘public or private land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural, heritage and/or public enjoyment.’

Other sites that have protected status include the Grand Canyon and Death Valley National Parks in America, Mont-Mégantic National Park in Canada and NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia.

For more information and to book click here.

Flurry of Yorkshire Dales barn conversions raises call to close planning loophole

Developers are exploiting a planning loophole that allows them to convert traditional stone barns in the Yorkshire Dales, a meeting has heard.

Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s audit committee called for the loophole to be closed to ease the national park’s housing crisis.

A policy was introduced six years ago to conserve the area’s historic agricultural buildings. It allows owners to choose whether the barns become homes for locals or holiday lets.

But although the dual policy has brought some barns back into use, the overwhelming majority of permitted conversions have been holiday lets, which could be sold for about £500,000, the meeting heard.

Of the 198 planning consents granted, only 28 per cent have had local occupancy or rural worker restrictions placed on them.

Previous policies had required local occupancy of most barn conversions, the only exception being where it was linked to farm diversification, in which case holiday letting was also permitted.

The meeting heard many locals were being priced out of buying barns, as even derelict ones with planning permission to be converted were now being marketed at between £150,000 and £200,000.

Officers added at £1,500 per square metre, the costs of converting barns were usually higher than new-builds.

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They said barn conversions should be of wider socio-economic benefit to the national park, where there are several ongoing initiatives aiming at attracting younger residents.

Too many holiday lets

The meeting comes ahead of the creation of a new Local Plan for development.

David Ireton, the North Yorkshire County councillor for Upper Craven said he had been a supporter of the dual policy, but had changed his mind.

He said the authority was set to examine whether a principle place of residence requirement should be brought in on the barns, “which would then allow new blood to come into the Dales with children”.

Mr Ireton said:

“It’s disappointing that so many of these have gone for holiday lets. We’re trying to encourage people to come and live in the Dales, which has got to be good for keeping schools and businesses open.”

Swaledale councillor Richard Good said giving approval to a barn conversion that enabled a Swaledale farming family to remain in the Dales had done much good for the authority’s image.

He added:

“Every time there is one that’s to be a holiday cottage there’s load of muttering, but what can we do about it? Not a great deal.”

The authority’s longest-serving member Robert Heseltine said the barns remained an opportunity to “give that indigenous population a chance to have a permanent home”:

“This is something this authority has to address. There’s been an explosion of tourist accommodation, particularly at the lower end with yurts such like, but tourism isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of the economy in any rural area. The need to bring young blood into communities is something that should never be ignored.”

Yorkshire Dales National Park reviews finances ahead of cuts

Yorkshire Dales National Park is to review its finances ahead of a potential cut to its government funding.

It’s considering limiting the resources it devotes to building conservation, its visitor centres and developing public transport services as it braces itself for another real terms cut in government funding.

Current indications are that the authority can expect another real-terms cut in its government grant for the next financial year.

While the six years to 2015 saw the authority dealt a 40 per cent real terms cut in core funding, government grants have been further eroded in recent years.

Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority are being asked to identify its most important areas of work to ensure it is clear where efforts should be directed for the next three years.

In a report to a full meeting of the authority on September 28, the authority’s deputy chief executive Gary Smith said setting priorities was challenging due to the 25 members having their own views, but the process would provide a framework to deliver services.

He said there had been “a clear recognition amongst the members” tasked with suggesting some priorities that some hard choices would have to be made.

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The report states planning has been added to the proposed list of priorities, which includes other areas such as farm conservation, where the authority will “strive for excellence”.

It adds that pumping resources into planning would help stimulate the development of housing and employment sites, attracting more working age households to live and work in the park.

However, it is proposed that public transport, building conservation and national park centres be given limited attention, meaning that unless external funding is found the authority will only do the minimum necessary to meet legal duties.

The report says making building conservation a limited priority would see a focus on supporting statutory functions, agri-environment scheme applications and chargeable services and the end of the programme of regular condition surveys of grade II listed buildings.

Dalesbus service

A Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority meeting heard uncertainty surrounded the future of Dalesbus services linking the national park to towns and cities from as far north as Darlington and Middlesbrough to Leeds and Bradford in the south.

Bruce McLeod, chairman of the Friends of the Dales, said the authority had an opportunity to address the pressing issues of climate change and increasing numbers of cars visiting the Dales.

However, it has been recommended that the authority restricts its public transport funding to its current grant of £5,000 a year to Dalesbus to subsidise summer Sunday bus services only, have no local liaison with users and not to actively promote public transport.

Yorkshire Dales see big increase in holiday accommodation plans

North Yorkshire’s national parks are seeing a boom in plans to create tourist accommodation as demand for holidays and staycations increases.

National park bosses said dozens of planning applications have been lodged with the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales authorities in recent weeks.

It follows concerns about the viability of foreign holidays and a massive increase in media awareness of the British landscape.

Chris France, director of planning for the moors authority, said while development proposals in general rose by 20 per cent last year, the first month of this year had seen an even sharper increase.

He said:

“Last year it was down to small-scale household applications as people were saving money and weren’t travelling, but this year it’s larger proposals as well and in particular a really significant increase from the hospitality and tourism accommodation sector.

“We are seeing a lot of small-scale works on farms, expansion of existing camping and caravanning sites, lots of glamping and holiday lodges. There’s been a move towards self-contained holiday accommodation where people don’t have to share amenity blocks.”

While the Dales has also seen numerous plans to make barns and fields more profitable, the latest accommodation plan submitted is for the conversion of Arkengarthdale’s former school, which its new owners hope to run guided walking holidays from.

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Upper Dales councillor Yvonne Peacock said she welcomed plans to create holiday cottages, but proposals which ended up as second homes were unhelpful for the communities as they were empty for much of the year.

She said:

“The important thing for the Dales is to get the balance right. We do need tourists, but don’t want the house prices to go so high that local people can’t afford to buy them.

“I wouldn’t like to see the Dales overrun with tourists like places such as the Lake District.”

Communities, particularly those in areas with high volumes of tourists, have started to react to the wave of proposals, warning the park authorities of the consequences of mass tourism.

However, planning bosses say while their policies recognise the importance of tourism for local economies, the national parks have the capacity to attract more people to enjoy their special qualities.

Mr France highlighted how the Moors national park had adopted policies last July that would protect against inappropriate tourism developments.

Pandemic sparks fresh concerns over Yorkshire Dales second homes

The impact of the pandemic has led to fresh calls for action on people buying second homes in the Yorkshire Dales.

A Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority meeting heard there was increasingly clear evidence that more people were buying properties as an investment rather than as somewhere to live and work.

Members were told 3,100 of the national park’s 12,000 properties were now holiday lets and second homes, and the number was rising.

The pandemic had accelerated the trend for rural relocations among wealthy and retired people, the meeting heard.

The concerns come three years after the park authority saw its proposal to bolster communities by imposing a five-fold increase in council tax on second home owners in the national park rejected.

Former Friends of the Dales chairman and park member Mark Corner told the meeting the pandemic had been “a game-changer to how society will be acting in future”.

He questioned whether the authority needed to reassess its strategies, such as promoting the area as somewhere for families to live and work.

He said:

“I see evidence of an increased interest in second homes. People wanting to find a safe space as a second home location.

“There’s been this huge awakening in closeness to nature, there’s been a recognition that remote working is feasible and is a way forward, there’s been pretty much devastation of our tourism economy.”

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Third generation farmer Allen Kirkbride said the village of Askrigg in Wensleydale was seeing a deluge of properties becoming second homes and holiday cottages.

He said:

“People are buying them as an investment and the vast majority are going to holiday lets. We are now starting to be over-run. It’s just pushing the prices up and up.

“In some way we have got to suppress this a little bit. It wasn’t a major problem five years ago, but it certainly is a major problem now.”

Veteran authority member Robert Heseltine added the authority was “as guilty as anyone in promoting Yorkshire Dales as a destination”.

Joining calls for fresh action, he said:

“We can only influence things if we have a leadership role.”

The authority’s chief executive, David Butterworth, warned members of the lack of support from surrounding councils the last time they tried to raise the second homes issue and said the market determined who bought properties for second homes.

He said:

“It looks in the early stages that there might be some acceleration in that. There is no support for any restraint on second homes from the county councils, district councils and I would suggest the local community.

“When the national park authority tried to show some leadership over this matter we got slapped down in an extraordinary manner by those bodies concerned. There wasn’t even support about discussing the matter with central government, which was all we wanted to do.”