An often-overlooked function of our small charity is its team of experienced (volunteer!) former planners and environmentalists who scrutinise all significant planning applications to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA). Each year it comments, supports or objects on more than forty applications noting alignment (or not) with the YDNPA’s published policies, in particular those … Read more
It’s a fact the UK’s 15 national parks have clearly delineated boundaries, yet the hinterlands of these landscapes need as much protection as the parks themselves, since nature and river catchments do not recognise arbitrary, manmade confines. Planning applications in such fringe areas, especially those on a significant scale, must therefore be reviewed with their … Read more
As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the National Park movement and 70th anniversary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, we reflect back on their origins. At the end of the Second World War, the Labour government set up committees to examine long-term land use and ‘nature preservation’ became part of the post-war reconstruction effort. … Read more
Question: When did ‘plantations of plastic’ become the accepted way to plant trees, improve wildlife corridors, bolster riverbanks and capture carbon? Answer: In 1979, when plastic tree guards became the widespread means of protecting sapling trees from being eaten by mammals such as deer, squirrels and voles. Prior to this time, nature decided which trees … Read more
This year’s AGM will be held on Saturday 28 September 2024 at Addingham Memorial Hall. We will be offering a short business meeting with a chance for questions afterwards, a complimentary light lunch (donations welcome) and an afternoon guided walk offering the chance to review some of Addingham Environment Group’s conservation and biodiversity projects. All members of Friends … Read more
With the 2024 General Election just a matter of weeks away, it is critical that as many of us as possible use this opportunity to speak up for our National Parks. Despite the National Parks of England and Wales celebrating their 75th anniversary this year, they are under threat like never before with chronic wildlife … Read more
In the last 25 years alone (1995-2020) the UK has lost nearly 50% of breeding curlew – with Wales, Northern Ireland and southern lowland England now having almost no breeding curlew left at all. Since the UK is home to about 25% of the entire population of Eurasian curlew, any decline threatens curlew globally, which … Read more
With 2024 marking the 75th anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, along with the promise of Westminster election, Campaign for National Parks (CNP), backed by all the National Park Societies of England (of which Friends of the Dales is one), have written to all party leaders in England to … Read more
October is Free Wills Month, which means that members of the public aged 55 and over have the opportunity to have their simple Wills written or updated free of charge, using participating solicitors in locations across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. If you, like us, love the Yorkshire Dales then we ask you to please … Read more
Friends of the Dales staff, trustees and volunteers recently came together for a day to remove some 2000 redundant plastic tree shelters from a private woodland near Long Preston in the Yorkshire Dales. A worthy (and wet!) endeavour, since without radical changes to the way we plant trees, the two billion plastic shelters that are … Read more