It was a park bench meeting day today and the chat from a number of the codgers centered on the financial state of the parlous National Parks Authority in Northumberland and the wording of its undated Dogs on Leads campaign for 2023.
We, the codgers, see the need for keeping dogs on leads near animals and when ground nesting birds are raising their young but this the third year of the Northumberland National Parks campaign in earnest and it appears that the Authority is flexing its muscles somewhat, is advertising its ban on dogs off leads without a start or end date?
Dog owners across Northumberland are very used to being banned from a small amount of Northumberland’s coastline and beaches by the Northumberland County Council (Dog Control) Public Spaces Protection Order of 2020, throughout Northumberland dogs are not allowed in
All enclosed children’s play areas at any time of the year.
The section of beach at Newbiggin by the Sea from the breakwater at Church Point to the beach access from the promenade at Sidney Crescent, between 1st May to 30th September each year.
The section of beach at Blyth from the beach access at Beachway to the beach access at the southern end of the Links Road car park, between 1st May to 30th September each year.
Also having lovely coastal Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) and the Crown Estates as neighbours, Northumberlands dog loving residents are used to some form of time limited restriction at differing times of the year, to ensure nesting birds are not disturbed, but 365 days a year, they are not.
Yet covering almost 25% of the County of Northumberland’s land mass the current campaign from the National Parks Authority, who are going to issue signage to farmers who have rights of way over their land that have no start and end date, shows how controlled by its landowners and the ‘keep away from us’ lobby is in rural Northumberland.
The Northumberland National Parks Authority is so short of cash that it had to get its begging bowl out this year and seek additional funding, DEFRA has agreed to help the Authority by gifting it £440,000 to support services such as visitor centres and park rangers.
The sum being gifted by DEFRA takes the Government's grants to the the National Park above £3 million and gives the Park Authority some time to reconsider plans to balance its budget and create some flexibility to invest in the priorities in the authority's new business plan, which is due to be approved by board members this month.
Reported at their 2022 AGM the Authority has grown the commercial income from £250,000 to over £1 million.
As well as commercial sales the Authority says that the park still faces significant financial pressures over the medium-term due to the ongoing flat-cash annual settlement from Defra. Due to the current funding formula for the National Parks grant, which takes into account area, number of visitors, length of rights of way and heritage features the Northumberland National Park receives a smaller share of DEFRA funding as its the National Park with the fewest visitors.
In recent years Towns and Parishes, shops, businesses, hotel and pub chains and even race tracks have changed their tune towards visitors with dogs and the commercial advantage of encouraging dog owners to visit and use their facilities has brought a huge revenue churn into the limelight. Becoming dog friendly has allowed many areas to bounce back quickly after covid and enjoy rapid financial growth even when taking into account the financial crisis we are going through at present.
We may only be a park bench chat group but even we can see the never ending anti-tourist face presented to dog owners by Northumberland National Parks Authority will not benefit the visitor throughput one little bit, we urge the Authority to think again and at least supply start and finish dates that will give some encouragement to the dog loving higher than average spenders from across the UK that the Park who needs them most, really wants them to be there.
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