Cuts raise questions over commitment to greener National Parks

Published: 30 October 2024

We have concerns that Defra funding cuts, announced in the Budget, could threaten the health and recovery of England’s National Parks.

At the 2024 election Labour committed to help National Parks become wilder and greener. This came after our health check report revealed the desperate state of habitats and wildlife in many parts of National Parks in England and Wales. New funding and resources, including enhanced agri-environment schemes, are urgently required to halt these declines and help deliver the UK’s legally binding 30×30 commitments. But the funding settlement for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced in the Autumn Budget today, a cut in real terms, raises concerns over whether National Parks will given the support they need.

Defra budget cuts

When nearly every day brings new evidence of the scale of the nature and climate crisis we face, it is really disappointing that one of the key departments responsible for addressing these urgent challenges now has to deal with budget cuts as well. If the Government is serious about delivering its promise of wilder, greener National Parks, we need more funding for Protected Landscapes, not less.

Over the last decade National Parks have faced a 40% cut to their budgets in real terms, leading to agonising decisions such as selling off publicly owned land, closing visitor centres, and limiting the key role these areas could play in reversing biodiversity decline and tackling the climate emergency. Today’s muted budget settlement makes the chances of funding being available for the kind of measures we know are needed to support nature recovery in National Parks, look increasingly uncertain.

In April we published our National Parks Health Check, which for the first time bought together the evidence on nature across all National Parks. It found that only 6% of land in National Parks is effectively protected for nature; every water body is polluted; woodland expansion totalled only 8 square miles between 2015 and 2020 and that the majority of carbon-storing peatland in National Parks is estimated to be in poor condition.

£2 bus cap being raised

We welcome the government’s commitment to extend the bus fare cap to the end of 2025 but we are disappointed with the decision to raise it from £2 to £3. Experiences in National Parks can be life-changing but many people, particularly the young and the elderly, find it difficult to access these places without a car. The government must do everything they can to ensure that easy and affordable public transport is available across the National Parks to better connect people with these awe-inspiring landscapes.