Last chance to double your donation via The Big Give - one donation, twice the impact
Thank you to everyone who has donated via The Big Give this week. We have just one day left to reach our £10,000 target. The good news is we only need to raise £1,500 to unlock £1,500 of match-funding. Can you help us do this? All donations made by noon tomorrow(Friday 29 April 2022) will be doubled.
A big thank you also to everyone who has shared their story of why National Parks matter to you. You may have seen some of these on social media already; if not, you can read them here. There’s still time to share your story too – email us with a few lines of what National Parks mean to you and a photo of you and we’ll take care of the rest.
Thank you so much for your ongoing support – together we can push for the changes needed to ensure better protected, accessible National Parks.
Friends of Campaign for National Parks should have now received the latest bumper edition of Viewpoint magazine – Spring/Summer 2022. It includes full features on the Landscapes Review, plans for a new National Park for Wales, the Mosaic legacy and more.
If you want to receive future copies of the magazine direct to your doormat or inbox, join as a Friend from just £3 a month and we’ll add you to the list! You’ll also get partner discounts with Original Cottages, Cotswold Outdoor and more.
With the latest edition now published, we've made the previous Autumn/Winter 2021 edition of Viewpoint public; it includes articles on nature recovery in National Parks and a write-up of the National Park Societies Conference in North York Moors National Park in October. You can read it here.
90th anniversary of the mass trespass of Kinder Scout
April 24th marked 90 years since a group of countryside campaigners took to Kinder Scout - the highest point in the Peak District - to push for greater access to the outdoors. Their actions contributed to the creation of National Parks.
As we celebrate this anniversary, we’re very conscious that more is needed to ensure equality of access, as illustrated in this recent Guardian article by Anita Sethi who was involved in the brilliant Kinder in Colour walk to coincide with the anniversary. The walk, led by Black People and People of Colour, saw around 500 people setting off from Edale to celebrate diversity in the outdoors and highlight barriers to access.
The latest edition of Viewpoint has a full feature exploring this further, including reflections from our Trustee Kate Ashbrook about where we find ourselves today and what more is needed. You can read some of these here.
Exmoor Spring Conference 2022
Team CNP attended a packed Porlock Village Hall earlier this month for the Exmoor Spring Conference 2022. Organised by Exmoor Society in partnership with Exmoor National Park Authority, the event had a strong panel of guest speakers including Natural England Chair Tony Juniper and Harry Barton, former Council for National Parks staff member, now CEO of Devon Wildlife Trust.
Issues covered included the need for more action to tackle climate change, historical examples of nature recovery and understanding the needs of the farming community. You can read some more of the discussion on our Twitter channel as we were live-tweeting from the conference.
The day ended with a guided walk to Porlock Marsh, which was the subject of the winning shot in our photography competition last year. Great to see Shaun Davey's award-winning image also used in the programme and as backdrop for some of the talks.
Porlock Marsh at sunset by Shaun Davey
House of Lords Land Use inquiry - ensuring National Parks are considered
We’ve recently submitted evidence to a House of Lords inquiry on Land Use in England. This is a detailed investigation into all aspects of land use in England and the policies which govern them.
We’ve used our submission to highlight many of the key points we made in our recent response to the Landscapes Review and in other recent work, including our National Parks and the Climate Emergency report, released last year.
We are calling for:
The particular circumstances of National Parks to be reflected in Environmental Land Management Schemes
More support for nature-based solutions
Greater action to reduce the pressure for house building in National Parks, including measures to tackle high levels of second homes.
We also highlight the importance of retaining key elements of the existing planning system, such as the presumption against major development in National Parks. We conclude by calling for an improved network of designated landscapes to be identified as part of a Land Use Strategy or National Spatial Plan.
Our full evidence will be published by the Committee in due course.
All change in Brecon Beacons National Park
Our Chief Executive Rose O’Neill and new Programmes Manager Anna Bedford met earlier this month with the new Brecon Beacons National Park Authority leadership team - Chief Executive Catherine Mealing-Jones, Director of Planning and Place Gareth Jones and Director of Nature Recovery and Climate Change Simone Lowthe-Thomas. They explored the historical wonders of the National Park and discussed their Future Beacons vision.
We also met with the Brecon Beacons Park Society team, which includes new volunteers leading communications and engagement. The Society has rebranded as Friends of the Brecon Beacons and can now be found onInstagram, as well as Twitter and Facebook. We talked to the Chair about a range of issues, including how to grow membership and have a bigger influence with Welsh Government.
In case you missed it in previous e-news, you can read our response to the Brecon Beacons Management Plan here.
Brecon Beacons National Park by Anna Bedford
Introducing...Amira and Tony
Introducing Amira Patel and Tony Karoly, who both secured one of our first National Parks: New Perspectives bursaries and are both featuring Brecon Beacons National Park in their stories.
Amira, who lives in the Lake District, is the founder of Wanderlust Women, a grassroots organisation which has been inspiring Muslim and other women to experience and enjoy National Parks, many for the first time. Thanks to our bursary she’s undertaking a tour of National Parks – to include Lake District, Brecon Beacons, North York Moors and Exmoor. We’ll be sharing a short documentary about this later in the year. Find out more viaWanderlust Women.
Tony is the youngest of our bursary holders. Originally from South Wales, she’s currently working for RNLI in Dorset, and is delighted to be heading back to her beloved Brecon Beacons for her project. Tony is creating a four-part short film exploring the different people involved in the National Park and how they engage with the landscape – from conservationists to adventurers. She’ll also explore themes around mental health and identity. Tony explains inthis guest blogfor us why she loves National Parks.
Latest blog...
We marked international National Parks Week (16-24 April 2022) by contributing a guest blog to Wildlife and Countryside Link. Our article highlighted this critical time for National Parks and why working together is the key to achieving the changes needed. Read the full blog here.
Amira, who lives in the Lake District, is the founder of 
Tony is the youngest of our bursary holders. Originally from South Wales, she’s currently working for RNLI in Dorset, and is delighted to be heading back to her beloved Brecon Beacons for her project. Tony is creating a four-part short film exploring the different people involved in the National Park and how they engage with the landscape – from conservationists to adventurers. She’ll also explore themes around mental health and identity. Tony explains in
