NATIONAL parks need to be ‘distinctively better’ places for nature, the leader of Natural England has told a three day conference held in Coniston Cold.

Addressing delegates at the UK National Parks conference, Tony Juniper said the ‘door was open’ for national park authorities to work more closely with Natural England – and that now was ‘an exciting moment to do things in a radically different way’.

He said: “These places of tranquillity and beauty, national parks, have become too tranquil. 30 years ago there was more bird song, more insects buzzing. A lot is missing from our landscapes; in many cases the wildlife is seriously depleted.”

There needed to be a ‘resurgence of nature in national parks’ and a newly proposed ‘environmental land management system could be a powerful tool to help, he said.

“The post-war industrialisation and intensification of agriculture, done for good reasons at the time , has caused loss of biodiversity. We should be thinking big – and we need to up the joint-working,” he said.

An example of joint working is the ‘payment by results’ agri-environment national pilot scheme taking place in Wensleydale. Natural England is the co-ordinating body for the scheme, with the Yorkshire Dales National Park the ‘delivery body’, working with farmers to improve habitat for wading birds and to produce more flower-rich hay meadows.

Dr William Bird, a GP who has worked extensively with Natural England, told the conference that he had come to promote ‘the most powerful drug that we have ever known about’ - being outside in the natural environment, with other people, in the sunshine.

“We are now planted indoors. Sedentary behaviour is actively destroying the body,” he said. “We know this is a medical emergency. We’ve got to connect children to nature in a massive way – and the national parks can lead on it.”

Georgina Umney, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s ‘Tomorrow’s Natural Leaders programme’, spoke about the impact of climate warming and biodiversity loss on her generation.

“The dreams we had growing up - we can’t face them, because of the overwhelming climate crisis,” she said, adding that national parks ought to do more to encourage young people to get involved in conservation.

Carl Les, chairman of the park authority, said the conference, held at The Coniston Hotel, had given people a lift to take action on the big issues raised over the three days. The 100 delegates were taken on tours of the national park and talked to those who lived and worked in the Dales.