Read my question to the Environment Minister on national park funding

Recently, I wrote to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs about what funding the Government is allocating to national parks – you can read their response below.

On the same day I received this response, it came out in the Totnes Times that Dartmoor National Park faces the biggest funding cut in years.

Its chief executive, Kevin Bishop, said an 8.2% cut in the day-to-day spending budget from the government would amount to a 10% cut once its Labour’s jobs tax is also factored in.

This is deeply concerning. In opposition, Labour pledged to halt the decline of nature and promised to extend the right to wild camp to all English national parks.

The Environment Secretary even said he worried that “children and grandchildren may never experience the beauty of the natural world as every previous generation has.”

And yet, in power, they are overseeing budget cuts that could prove existential.

It’s hard to overstate the difference access to green spaces and national parks have on our mental and physical health. That’s why I proposed my Green Spaces Bill earlier this year, which would’ve created a Government Office to advise on the preservation of urban parks, neighbourhood areas, and more.

In our manifesto, the Liberal Democrats promised to create 3 new national parks, and we continue to advocate for increased access and funding to green spaces.