HELPING nature to recover in the Yorkshire Dales has come up as the top priority for those who both live and are visitors to the national park.

Responding to a consultation put out by the national park authority at the start of the year to help shape its next five year management plan, the creation and restoration of important habitats in the Dales as a way of helping nature to recover came top of a list of priorities, for both residents and visitors.

Also in the top six priorities, out of a possible 18, for both residents and visitors, were protecting rare and threatened species, including ending the illegal persecution of birds of prey, reducing pollution and improving the water quality of rivers and streams, helping younger people to live and work in the national park.

The online survey ran from January 15 for six weeks and received a total of 1,106 responses, of which half were from people who said they live or work in the national park. 16 per cent of the responses came from people aged 18 to 34 years old, and four per cent from non-white ethnic groups.

27 organisations, including parish councils, schools, tourism businesses, churches and charities, also responded to the consultation which will be used to shape the five year management plan, which will run from 2025.

Priorities for the more than 500 residents who responded to the survey differed from visitors - although both groups put nature recovery at the top of the list of 18; residents put helping younger people to live or work in the Dales at the second highest priority and reducing the impact of second homes and holiday lets at third place. Reducing pollution in rivers came fourth for residents followed by supporting upland livestock farming.

Protecting threatened species for residents was placed sixth, followed by planting new woodland, and in eighth place, increasing the supply of affordable housing. Keeping rights of way in good condition and improving options for cycling came in at ninth, ahead of improving public transport, improving resilience to climate change, repairing and re-using traditional stone barns and protecting the park's dark skies from light pollution.

Of least importance to residents was reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including farming; encouraging new green businesses, and providing opportunities for people from a wider range of backgrounds to visit the area for health and wellbeing.

Taken together, keeping the rights of way network in the national park was placed sixth highest, ahead of supporting upland farming, reducing the impact of second homes and holiday lets, and increasing the supply of affordable housing. Taken together, encouraging green businesses came bottom.

Respondents were also asked to add any other issues they thought were important. Of the 314 who took up the offer, supporting businesses and employment came out top, followed by improving or increasing access to open access land, such as caves, and controlling traffic, including speeding and parking. Also listed was supporting farmers to produce food and to maintain the farmed landscape, restricting the use of green lanes by motorised vehicles, issues with litter and dogs not on leads, allowing more farm barns to be sympathetically converted and improving access to services and schools.

The National Park Management Plan is the most important document for the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is a five-year work programme, which is produced and monitored by a partnership of local organisations, including farming, landowning and tourism business interests.

The partnership met in March to consider the survey results. It is expecting to publish fact-filled evidence reports later this spring, and will hold a stakeholder engagement event for local organisations in May. A full draft National Park Management Plan to cover the period 2025-2030 will be published for public consultation before the end of the year.

David Sharrod, chair of the partnership, and Chief Executive of Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, said: “Thank you to everyone who took the survey. Receiving well over 1,000 responses is a great result.

“It is really striking that helping nature to recover came top of the list of 18 potential priorities. It reflects growing public awareness of the national nature emergency, and the urgency with which people want to address it here in the National Park. It was also clear that – for the people who live here – helping younger people to access housing and jobs, and getting more of the housing stock back into permanent residential use are key issues.

“The results of the consultation will be taken into account as we update the Management Plan to cover the five-year period from April 2025. Ambitious objectives on nature recovery are certain to be included. It’s great that we already have a detailed Nature Recovery Plan for the National Park, which was published last September, to draw on.”

See a summary of the consultation at: https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk