The Yorkshire Dales National Park is not a wilderness but a living, working environment, home to 24,000 people. More than 95% of the land is privately owned and the National Park Authority must manage its duty towards conservation with that towards the social and economic well-being of its local communities.
Our vision for 2040
The Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan contains seven objectives that we intend to achieve over the next five to ten years to make progress towards our vision that by 2040 the Yorkshire Dales National Park will be:
Home to strong, self-reliant and balanced communities with good access to the services they need
Management Plan objectives
F1 Support construction of at least 75 affordable dwellings and 75 'local market' dwellings on sites in accordance with the Housing Development Plan by 2018.
F2 Support improved community health facilities including the delivery of new extra care housing services in Grassington, Hawes and Reeth by 2020, and the retention of accessible wider health care services.
F3 Safeguard services which are essential to the long-term viability of local communities, including retaining good access to primary health care services, nursery provision, primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges that serve the National Park.
F4 Use the Sustainable Development Fund, New Homes Bonus and other funding sources to support at least 20 new projects each year that bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the National Park.
F5 Safeguard existing community meeting and recreational places that the community considers is particularly important to protect.
F6 Help local people to look after and make use of locally-important heritage features by publishing criteria that communities can use to identify, assess and record such features, and use the Local Plan to put in place appropriate measures for their management by 2016.
F7 Maintain public and community transport services to meet the needs of local communities and visitors to the National Park, so that the: a) main visitor destinations in the National Park are accessible from their main catchments at Christmas and between Easter and October on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays, and b) key transport corridors linking to Harrogate, Ilkley, Ingleton, Kendal, Leyburn, Richmond, Settle and Skipton have Monday to Sunday access all year.
F8 Provide at least basic mobile phone coverage to all significant clusters of properties across the National Park by no later than 2018.
F9 Empower and support communities to retain, take on and deliver their own local services, including supporting the development of 'Community-led Plans' and the identification of buildings or land that are 'Assets of Community Value'.
F10 By 2020, deliver a co-ordinated programme of community-led support for local regeneration activity and for projects that improve access to services, through new Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria Fells & Dales LEADER programmes.
