Today is the 75th anniversary of the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act.
The groundbreaking Act built the foundations for modern nature conservation, enshrining in law protections for our wild spaces. It paved the way for our iconic network of National Landscapes, Parks and Trails (collectively known as Protected Landscapes).
To mark the occasion, government has announced that it will work with partners to develop new legislation to empower our National Parks and National Landscapes. This will celebrate the original bold intent of the 1949 Act, while unleashing the full potential of these incredible places for the next 75 years and beyond.
From Northumberland to the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, Protected Landscapes welcome almost 270 million visitors a year and are home to internationally important habitats and our most iconic species.
Together, they contain half of England’s priority habits and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, 60% of deep peat and around 88% of heather and acid grassland habitats. This makes them vital to our mission to restore nature and boost the nation’s health through access to nature.
If that wasn’t enough, these landscapes inspire and uplift us.
Personally, a childhood trip to the Yorkshire Dales awakened a love of nature for me. As the 1949 Act recognised, everyone has the right to benefit from what these places have to offer and, as living landscapes, people have always been part of the fabric of what makes them so special.
However, many of these landscapes are in a poor condition, with the wildlife that lives within their boundaries in steep decline and their waterways polluted. Less than 40% of rivers in National Parks are in good ecological status.
We will develop the new legislation with a broad range of partners but intend to strengthen Protected Landscape’s mandate to recover nature. Through this recovery, Protected Landscapes will fight climate change, foster a thriving green economy and connect communities with nature while protecting them from flooding.
We will also revamp governance to ensure it creates the conditions for success, innovation and collaboration. Finally, we intend to provide National Park Authorities with a general power of competence – which will clarify their legal framework and remove barriers to integrated delivery.
We will also develop new regulations, and have today published new guidance to ensure public bodies operating in these areas, including water companies, deliver better environmental outcomes working together with Protected Landscape organisations.
This announcement represents our first steps towards greener, wilder and more accessible Protected Landscapes, helping the recovery of nature across the country.
It will make important contributions to our nature targets, including halting the decline of species and protecting 30% of the UK’s land and sea for nature by 2030, as part of the government's Plan for Change.
We look forward to working with a broad range of partners to develop the legislation, alongside a wider package of measures to support Protected Landscapes.
We will keep you updated on the Environment blog as the Protected Landscapes legislation progresses.
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15 comments
Comment by Richard Watson posted on
Excellent news! Our protected landscapes must not simply be about trying to conserve what little remains of our natural heritage, but about seeking to restore wildlife habitats on a massive scale. Much is already being done to restore moors, rivers, wetlands, woodlands and species-rich meadows. This work needs to continue with new legislation designed to ensure that it happens at pace.
Comment by Tessa Fitzjohn posted on
I agree this is excellent news. However as a recent Green Councillor for Bristol, who worked on the new Local Plan (awaiting approval from the Inspectorate) I am very aware that the need for housing as opposed to nature particuarly in urban sites needs better legislation to protect and restore bio-diversity and nature. It is still too easy for developers to quote 'viability' ie missing the 20% + profit margins for increasing density, height or removal of trees and similar.I recommend anyone working in the nature industry needs training in understanding planning, how it functions and why the Local Plans are so important.
Comment by Friends of the South Downs posted on
Very encouraging. May be sensible though to see the draft legislation before getting too carried away.
Comment by Phil Belden posted on
The South Downs, one of 12 National Parks proposed in the 1940s (Hobhouse Report), but not designated along with the others in the 1950s. It took 60 years, following the founding 1949 Act, with much campaigning, to be finally confirmed in 2009. So much damage, destruction and neglect in those intervening years.
The South Downs needs more than the first purpose of National Parks, to conserve and enhance, they need restoration and re-creation.
We look to government, after the brutal budget cuts since the South Downs came into being, to reverse this decline and help recover this iconic, nationally important landscape, with its shrinking internationally rare habitats and precious wildlife.
Such a popular "people's park" (as Labour coined it, when Hilary Benn confirmed its belated status) deserves it.
Comment by jessicaeverett posted on
Hi Phil,
Thanks for your comment. As part of the changes we're making, we will make nature’s recovery explicit in the first purpose to help halt nature’s decline. And we will ensure all our National Parks and National Landscapes deliver their full potential towards our national nature targets.
Best wishes,
Jess (The Blog Team)
Comment by Jonathan Salt posted on
The term 'Protected Landscapes' is widely used, could you confirm that this also includes those areas designated as Natura 2000 sites with SAC or/and SPA status?
Comment by jessicaeverett posted on
Hi Jonathan,
We're using 'Protected Landscapes' here as shorthand for National Landscapes, National Parks, and the Broads – although sometimes 'Protected Landscapes' also include our network of National Trails.
SSSIs, SACs and SPAs are often collectively referred to as protected sites, which are not the same as Protected Landscapes. They all have legal protections, though.
Thanks,
Jess (The Blog Team)
Comment by Jonathan Salt posted on
Thanks Jess, the reason I ask is that a blog I read earlier in the year, I think it was relating to the 30by30 project, but can't remember the exact one, made a point of actually including SAC and SPA sites into their definition of Protected Landscapes. I realize they all have certain protections, but for the sake of clarity surely it would be best if all these protected sites and protected landscapes were covered by the same legislation?
Out of interest, am I right in assuming that the SAC and SPA sites have the highest level of protection at the moment, courtesy of 'The Conservation of Habitats and Species Act 2017'? Will the new protections to Protected Landscapes deliver the same level of protection?
Comment by jessicaeverett posted on
Thanks, Jonathan. I think possibly the 30by30 team might have used a third term – ‘Protected Areas’ – which is a catch-all for both Protected Landscapes and Protected Sites. Both of these have the potential to contribute to the 30by30 target. We definitely appreciate how confusing the designations and terminology can be!
On levels of protection, these are different pieces of legislation with a different set of regulatory protections.
We’re not intending to give Protected Landscapes the same kind of protections as SSSIs and others – this would be unworkable, because they are living landscapes rather than habitat sites (although some would have specific Protected Sites within them).
Instead, we want to give the Protected Landscapes a clearer mandate for nature recovery, by updating their statutory purposes. We are also developing regulations to ensure public bodies deliver better outcomes for nature and access in those landscapes, and do more to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of these special places.
Jess
Comment by Jonathan Salt posted on
Thank you, that does actually make sense, and yes, maybe it was 'Protected Areas'.
Comment by Neil Picken posted on
Nature seems to be a very low priority in the political world with constant cuts financially. We need more money now to halt the decline and destruction of nature and biodiversity with proper policies.
Comment by bethcarnell posted on
Hi Neil,
Thanks for your comment. Nature is really important to this government. We're committed to protecting and restoring nature, including reversing the decline in species. You're right that funding is an important factor, which is why we're investing over £400 million pounds into nature’s recovery to create habitats for wildlife to thrive and families to enjoy. We're also encouraging more private investments in nature through our green finance initiatives, like Projects for Nature.
But we're also making other improvements to put nature at the heart of policy. Earlier in the year we announced that we will be revising the Environmental Improvement Plan to ensure it is fit for purpose and focuses on delivering our Environment Act targets. At COP16, we announced our next steps for meeting 30by30 and recently, we launched a new Tree Planting Taskforce to oversee the planting of millions of trees across the UK. And of course, there are landmark policies like biodiversity net gain, which you can read about more on this blog.
Best wishes,
Beth (The Blog Team)
Comment by David M posted on
Potentially good news for the country's honeypot areas but a glaring omission in that half the 1949 Act is being ignored......National Parks AND Access to the Countryside. We have a unique system of public rights of way in this country, its maintenance ( especially outside "special" landscapes) has been desperately underfunded for years. Lots of people don't have easy access to National Parks but their local footpaths and bridleways still offer the potential to get out into some wonderful countryside, benefitting health and wellbeing and reducing carbon emissions if they can do it from the doorstep and not have to drive to a "special" area.
Comment by jessicaeverett posted on
Hi David,
It's a valid point that access to nature is crucial, and we're working to improve this for everyone across the country. Please make sure to subscribe to our blog for any updates.
Thanks,
Jess (The Blog Team)
Comment by David M posted on
Thanks for your reply Jess but the only evidence I see is a decline in the footpath networks as local authorities cannot afford to maintain them.