Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed National Landscapes Service on the management of National Parks.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The independent Landscapes Review, led by Julian Glover, set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
We welcome this ambition, as the Government is committed to ensuring our protected landscapes flourish as havens for nature and are places that everyone can visit and enjoy.
The Landscapes Review included recommendations for long-term structural changes, such as creating a new National Landscape Service and changing National Park and AONB statutory purposes, that would require legislation were they to be taken forward.
We are working closely with National Park Authorities, AONB organisations and wider stakeholders to consider the potential effects of the Landscape Review’s recommendations and to develop a well-informed response to the review, which we will publish in due course.