Dales park authority facing “financial cliff” due to funding cuts

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) chiefs have warned of possible redundancies and the need to restructure the organisation due to a loss of government funding.

Members were told this week that major cuts to work programmes may also be required due to the authority facing a “financial cliff”.

Senior YDNPA officers told a full authority meeting the body’s core grant was being cut by 8.2 per cent for the current financial year.
YDNA chief executive David Butterworth said a one-off £1.5m capital grant from Defra would protect the authority’s budgets in 2025/26,

But he added: “At the end of that year the financial cliff that we’re facing has just got a whole lot steeper.  Our new revenue grant baseline has fallen from over £5.7m in the current year to just over £4.7m next year and critically for all future years.”

The park authority has forecast a deficit of around £1.1m for 2026/27 rising to £1.3m the following year.

Like other local authorities, YDNPA is awaiting the outcome of the government’s comprehensive spending review to find out its future funding levels.
Mr Butterworth said it was possible the park authority could get further capital grants in coming years.  But he added that it was difficult for officers to draw up medium-term budget plans when, as happened this year, the grant was not confirmed until weeks before the start of the financial year the money had to be spent.

He said: “If the results of the comprehensive spending review are challenging for the authority, then we will need to come back to members at some point during this year with proposals that might lead to significant reductions in our work programmes and a restructuring of the authority.  We need to ensure we lobby at a local and national level to ensure we achieve our ambitions around nature recovery, climate and engagement and well-being.”

Michelle Clyde, head of finance at YDNPA, told the meeting there was some good news, including the government’s decision to continue the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme, with £30m to be split between farmers and landowners in the 44 protected landscapes in England.
But she added: “We see a black cloud hovering over the authority’s future finances unless the government pays more regard to what we can and do deliver for society and for the nation.”

In response to the concerns, A Defra spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Our national parks and green spaces are a source of great national pride, which is why this government is providing a capital uplift of up to £15m for national parks.  This is in addition to the £400m we are investing in nature across the country, including in our national parks.  We are also helping national parks cut through bureaucracy and take an entrepreneurial approach to boost earnings.”

YDNPA members voted unanimously to approve the proposed budget for 2025/26 at the meeting at the authority’s headquarters in Bainbridge on Tuesday.