COUNTRYSIDE campaigners want to see less cars in the national parks - such as the Yorkshire Dales - and more public transport options.

Campaign for National Parks is calling for more to be done to enable everyone to access national parks, including the quarter of households who do not own a private car.

Cutting the use of cars - 93 percent of visitors travel by car - would help reduce the ongoing environmental damage, the report reveals.

“National Parks for all: making car-free travel easier” makes the case for improving sustainable travel options to open up the the areas to new visitors.

It wants to see more promotion of car free guides to the countryside, shared transport schemes, more shuttle buses and the introduction of electric bikes.

It comes as Bishop of Ripon, Helen-Ann Hartley calls on policy makers to consider the impact of the loss of local bus services on rural areas.

She says cut backs in transportation do not just affect people but break connections between communities and reduce the exposure people can have to experiencing areas of natural beauty.

Ruth Bradshaw, Campaign for National Parks’ policy and research manager and author of the report, said “The severe cuts to rural bus services in recent years have made it increasingly difficult to reach many parts of the parks without a car.”

She highlights that a journey by bus from Leeds to the National Park Visitor Centre at Hawes, in the Yorkshire Dales, could take around four or five hours.

“There is a real sense of opportunity now with the potential to introduce new initiatives such as dockless bike hire and app-based shared transport to the wonderful landscapes of the Lake District, Snowdonia and all the other national parks in England and Wales,” she said.

“At a time when there is increasing recognition of the health and well-being benefits the arks offer, there is an urgent need to improve car-free access.

“We want to make sure everyone can enjoy National Parks but in a way that does not undermine the special qualities of these beautiful areas.”

The report focuses on making a number of recommendations about how the situation can be improved and calls on national parks and other organisations to provide high-quality, consistent and up-to-date information on sustainable travel options and to set up a ‘smarter travel National Park’ pilot to explore the potential for technological solutions such as integrated ticketing, e-bikes and app-based services as well as measures to reduce the levels of car use.

The problems facing community transport have also highlighted in the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company annual report to which its member Colin Speakman of the Yorkshire Dales Society was a consultee.

It runs the DalesBus service carrying passengers from urban areas to locations in the Airedale, Wharfedale and Wensleydale.

The 2016 says: “The last few years have become an increasingly difficult time for both the providers and users of rural public transport in England.

“Thanks to cheap car loans and petrol at historically low-price levels, motoring costs have fallen in real terms, whilst public transport fares have risen faster than inflation.

“Even for relatively low-income families, buying a second-hand car is often seen as a cheaper way of travelling than paying often very high fares on different bus services both and within the countryside for all but the retired.”

Mr Speakman said: “Dalesbus is one of the country’s most successful national park transport schemes and in fact we are now on a larger scale than any other project in the UK, but its difficult to predict the future.”

The report says: “The last few years have become an increasingly difficult time for both the providers and users of rural public transport in England.

“Thanks to cheap car loans and petrol at historically low-price levels, motoring costs have fallen in real terms, whilst public transport fares have risen faster than inflation.

“Even for relatively low-income families, buying a second-hand car is often seen as a cheaper way of travelling than paying often very high fares on different bus services both and within the countryside for all but the retired,”

In 2016 there was a reduction in Dalesbus services in a bid to cut costs but it still remained one of the most successful community transport schemes nationwide.

The report concluded: “As we suggested in 2016 and repeated in 2017 for DalesBus to survive we need increased political and financial support.”

Without adequate levels of funding support, DalesBus, as it currently operates, would cease to exist and be confined to a shorter season.