|
The new South Downs National Park “can be a real boost for the local economy"
|
|
A scene from the South Downs National Park
|
This month Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, announced the size and make-up of the new National Park Authority responsible for the South Downs. The news comes just a few weeks after confirmation about the National Park’s boundaries was announced.
Benn said the new Authority is expected to place a lot of emphasis on community and stakeholder engagement, which is great news for the 8,000 jobs supported by the National Park and the £330 million it contributes to the regional economy each year.
The South Downs becoming a National Park presents many business advantages to the South Downs. Benn said: "National Park status can be a real boost for the local economy, attracting new visitors, businesses and investment, but above all, the South Downs' wonderful countryside will be protected forever for the enjoyment of everyone."
Research commissioned by the Council for National Parks showed that the majority of businesses surveyed in the three National Parks in the Yorkshire and Humberside regions felt becoming a National Park had positive impacts on their businesses. Over 60 per cent of the businesses believed that high landscape quality had a positive impact on their business performance. The research found that the economic benefits came not just from the environmental qualities within each individual Park, but also from National Park designation itself.
The economies in rural and urban areas are similar in terms of type and mix of businesses and employment. A Defra report published in 2007 said that businesses in rural areas usually perform on a par with, or better than, urban areas. In addition to the economic contribution made, rural areas provide a range of public benefits and amenity value that are not recognised in a straightforward analysis of economic activity.
However a Rural Advocate’s report showed evidence that there are some rural areas where levels of economic performance are below average and prospects for growth are more limited.
Shelagh Moore, Training Director at Moore Associates, said that the South Downs being incorporated as a National Park gives businesses the opportunity to “develop using the positive aspects of being part of a National Park.”
She said: “More visitors to the area looking for hospitality, good food and quality retail outlets will find the area has a lot to offer. Businesses wanting to relocate will find the area has a lot to offer in urban, as well as rural, areas.
“It is important that businesses in the area play their part in the development of the Park and join the committees and groups that are being set up to run the park. There needs to be a wide variety of experience available to look at planning and ideas and to set up realistic and viable long term, as well as shorter term projects, that in recessionary times lead to more employment in the rural and urban areas that make up the Park.”
The National Park will open on the 1st of April, 2010.
|
By Laura Nineham
Back to main page
|
|
 2010 2c.jpg)
