UK National Parks Guide

The National Parks of England and Wales

The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Despite the name, national parks in England and Wales are quite different from those in many other countries, where national parks are owned and managed by the government as a protected community resource, and permanent human communities are not a part of the landscape. In England and Wales, designation as a national park can include substantial settlements and land uses which are often integral parts of the landscape, and land within a national park remains largely in private ownership.

There are currently 12 national parks in England and Wales. A further area in England — the South Downs — is in the process of being designated as a national park. Each park is operated by its own National Park Authority, with two "statutory purposes":

• To conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area.
• To promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the park's special qualities by the public. 

An estimated 110 million people visit the national parks of England and Wales each year. Recreation and tourism bring visitors and funds into the parks, to sustain their conservation efforts and support the local population through jobs and businesses. These visitors also bring problems, such as erosion and traffic congestion, and conflicts over the use of the parks' resources.

The national parks of England and Wales by date they were established. Area (km²):

• 1st Peake District 1951 (1,438)
• 2nd Lake District 1951 (2,292)
• 3rd Snowdonia (Welsh: Eryri) 1951 (2,142)
• 4th Dartmoor 1951 (956)
• 5th Pembrokeshire Coast Welsh: Arfordir Penfro) 1952 (620)
• 6th North York Moors 1952 (1,436)
• 7th Yorkshire Dales 1954 (1,769)
• 8th Exmoor 1954 (693)
• 9th Northumberland 1956 (1,049)
• 10th Brecon Beacons Welsh: Bannau Brycheiniog) 1957 (1,351)
• 11th The Broads 1988 (303)
• 12th New Forest 2005 (580)

The National Parks of Scotland

There are currently two national parks of Scotland: Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, created in 2002, and the Cairngorms National Park, created in 2003. These national parks were designated as such under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, passed by the Scottish Parliament, 51 years after the establishment of the National Parks of England and Wales. It was a Scot, John Muir, who had initiated one of the first national parks in the world, at Yosemite in the United States.

Like the national parks of England and Wales, neither of the Scottish parks are wilderness areas owned by the government. The majority of the land is in private ownership; more importantly, much of the land has been worked by humans for thousands of years, in places quite extensively. Like many areas of the Scottish Highlands, historical deforestation, overgrazing by sheep and deer, and extensive 20th century afforestation with non-native tree species (particularly conifers) have resulted in landscapes which are semi-natural. Like their English and Welsh counterparts, then, the parks in Scotland are effectively "managed landscapes".

Like national parks in England and Wales, each national park in Scotland is administered by a National Park Authority. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 which led to the creation of the English and Welsh national parks defined two purposes for National Park Authorities relating to conservation and enjoyment. However, Scottish national parks have two additional aims which are not included in the legislation for the parks in England and Wales. Under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, national parks in Scotland have four aims:

• To conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the area.
• To promote sustainable use of the natural resources of the area.
• To promote understanding and enjoyment (including enjoyment in the form of recreation) of the special qualities of the area by the public.
• To promote sustainable economic and social development of the area's communities.

The general purpose of the National Park Authority, as defined in the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, is to ensure that these aims are "collectively achieved ...in a coordinated way". Although the four aims have equal status, in accordance with the Sandford Principle, the first aim (conservation and enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage) is to be given greater weight when it appears to the Park Authority that there is irreconcilable conflict with the other aims.

In June 2005, the Scottish Executive announced their intention to create Scotland’s first coastal & marine National Park during 2008. Five possible locations for this are being considered: Solway Firth; Argyll Islands and Coast; Ardnamurchan, Small Isles and South Skye Coast; North Skye Coast and Wester Ross; and North Uist, Sound of Harris, Harris and South Lewis.

As of July 2008 no national parks have been designated in Northern Ireland, but there are moves to establish Northern Ireland's first national park in the Mourne Mountains.