Farron welcomes decision to put National Park extension plans on hold

Tim Farron has revealed that Natural England has put off a crucial announcement on the extension of the boundaries of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks.

The plan was to announce the extension this week - which would for example have seen Brigsteer come in to the Lake District and Barbon and Casterton come into the Dales - but this has now been put off until February. It is thought that even if the extension is approved in February it will be decided to put off the implementation for several years until the financial situation has improved.

Tim has welcomed this decision and called for better consultation, "To extend the boundaries of the national park would have added to costs, which is hard to defend in the current financial climate. It would be right to put this off until a time when we can afford it. We should also take advantage of the delay to allow local communities affected to be properly consulted as to whether they wish to be included in the extended national parks"