Thank you to Chris Elton for drawing the following to our attention. Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has issued a consultation document on the idea of setting up direct elections to National Park Authorities. The Defra website says:
Consultation on Direct Elections to English National Park and Broads Authorities
This consultation invites your views on the principle of Direct Elections to the Authorities and Parish Council Members on the Broads Authority.
Parliamentary consideration of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 and the Broads Bill 2007 has resulted in an ongoing issue about direct elections to the National Park and Broads Authorities. As a result, the Government is undertaking an open consultation to seek views from its stakeholders to explore whether directly elected members would aid or hinder the decision-making process and/or strategic functioning of National Park and Broads Authorities. It wishes to give its stakeholders the opportunity to evaluate the relevant issues and in order to inform this thinking, those issues are set out in the linked consultation document. It simply sets out the issues for information purposes only without any views or recommendations.
Comments on these proposals are invited by Friday 28 November 2008. They should be posted or e-mailed to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the following address:
Alasdair Grant, National Parks Policy and Sponsorship Branch, Zone 1/03, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6EB
Or email: NNPAMembership@defra.gsi.gov.uk
As residents of a National Park we are undoubtedly stakeholders. We suggests that as well as contacting Defra directly with your views it may be worth adding your comments below so that the Parish Council and/or the Village Action Group has some idea of the the community’s views as a whole.
PARWICH.ORG 
Having posted the above I am adding my personal opinions.
Undoubtedly the creation of our National Parks was very positive, and the National Park Authorities do a lot of very good work. However this can not but be improved by more accountability.
Historically Officers in National Park Authorities have had a lot independence and do not always give due respect to the legitimately expressed views of residents. That they have to put the larger interests of the Park before the interests of residents, does at times give them an inappropriate excuse to ignore Park residents. It is the resident communities that have created the character of the area and landscape and they are necessary to maintain and service the National Parks.
In the past Authority Members have been able to leave behind the consequences of their decisions, when they return to their homes outside the Park. The increase in number of Parish Council Representatives on the Peak District National Park Authority Board has certainly increased the consideration given to communities. This is particularly apparent at Planning Committee Meetings, where Officers recommendations are increasingly subject scrutiny and less likely just to be given a rubber stamp.
Although there are District and County Council nominated Board Members, most residents, though they may know their own County and District Councillors, have no idea who represents these bodies on the National Park Authority. Indeed individual County and District Councillors at times express their own frustration that they as elected representatives have very little impact in National Park Policies that directly effect the lives of their constituents.
It is a matter of concern that at present the Peak Park Authority has not established permanent funding for its Community Planning Officers, though this is the part of the Authority specifically working to empower communities and communicate with them.
I believe that, though it may come at a financial cost, more democracy in National Parks can only be a good thing for those of us who live in them. Further it is important that Park residents have their input into this debate either directly, or through local organisations such as our Parish Councils, or through our elected representatives (our District Councillor Simon Spencer, our County Councillor Ray Caswell and our MP Patrick McLoughlin).
Thank you to Richard T for emailing us this link to the Peak District National Park Authority’s website, http://www.peakdistrict.org/index/looking-after/consultations.htm
They are to consider their response at a meeting of the Authority’s Board on 3rd October. Although they do not specifically invite comments there is no reason why interested parties including residents could not let either the Chair (Narendra Bajaria, email Narendra.Bajaria@peakdistrict.gov.uk) or the Chief Executive (Jim Dixon, email jim.dixon@peakdistrict.gov.uk) or our local Parish Councils Representative (Christopher Carr, email Christopher.Carr@peakdistrict.gov.uk) know their views before this meeting.
We have also invited the PDNPA, our District and County Councillors and our MP to comment on this here at PARWICH.ORG.
Thank you Karen W for letting us know that Parwich Parish Council will be discussing this, and that it is on the agenda for the Thursday 2nd October meeting. The Derbyshire Association of Local Councils (see http://www.dalc.org.uk/) have requested comments on the consultation to provide a group response.
Thank you to Simon Spencer for letting us know that Derbyshire Dales District Council are debating this next week.
Thank you to the Chairman of the Peak District National Park Authority for the following email:
Please accept my apologies for delayed response as I was out of town on Park’s business. The matter is to come before the Authority on 3 October when a collective view will be taken on this matter. I am sure you will appreciate it would be inappropriate to express a personal Chair’s view. My task will be to seek a consensus view.
The Chief Executive has consulted stakeholders widely and will be best placed to answer your second question [How can local individuals or groups add their comments)]. I had personally discussed with Parishes Forum the need for Parishes to come to a view. This was briefly touched on by me at the annual Parishes meeting by me to make everyone aware of this. Any comments received will be reported to the Authority meeting by the Chief Executive.
Kind regards
Narendra Bajaria
The following email has been received to day from our MP Patrick McLoughlin in response to our invitation to comment on this post:
Thank you for contacting me about the consultation regarding direct elections for national parks. I played a part in first ensuring that local communities were able to have representation on national parks. When I was elected as the Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire, that was not the case, and I fought for that to occur. There have been regular discussions about representation ever since.
I have considered the new proposals carefully but I will not be supporting them. My understanding is that these directly elected members might replace parish members and local authority members. I would not wish that to happen. The Peak Park in particular is a place where people live and work, and I still feel the interests of local residents are better served by elected local councillors, at whatever level.
However, the Derbyshire County Council should ensure that people appointed to the national park represent areas within it. This ensures an electable element to the authority and the national interest should be represented by the secretary of state’s appointments. I would need a lot of persuading that a directly elected park would be an improvement. People once elected could still move and I also think there is a risk of people being elected on single issue campaigns, which might not be in the long term interests of the park.