Minister praises National Park for 50 years care of countryside and community

Barry Gardiner, MP, Minister for Biodiversity, Landscape and Rural Affairs today paid tribute to the Northumberland National Park Authority in its efforts to combine care for the landscape with the encouragement of sustainable tourism during a visit to celebrate the National Park's 50th Anniversary.

Northumberland National Park covers 405 square miles – over a fifth of the county, from Hadrian's Wall, through North Tyne, Redesdale and Coquetdale to the Cheviot Hills on the border with Scotland.

At the central section of Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site, which runs through the National Park, the Minister walked from Steel Rigg to Winshields Crag, the highest point on the Wall, to see how the Authority and its partners, National Trust, English Heritage, Natural England and Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd, conserve landscape and heritage while maintaining access to the public Rights of Way along the most visited part of the Hadrian's Wall Path national trail which has attracted 600,000 walkers to date.

Mr Gardiner was given a ride on the Hadrian's Wall Bus, "AD122", and met staff of the Sustainable Tourism Project, which has been managed by the Authority for the Hadrian's Wall Tourism Partnership for the past six years. The bus service, which carries 28,000 passengers a year along its route between Bowness on Solway and Wallsend, and is a vital link for walkers, cyclists and the local community, has just been recognized as "Best Bus in the Countryside 2006" in the prestigious UK Bus Awards. The Minister also met the new managers of the service which will be run from 2007 by Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd, the new organization set up by the North East and North West Regional Development Agencies.

At the National Park Once Brewed visitor centre, Mr Gardiner acknowledged the valuable work that centre staff do to enhance the welcome and enjoyment of visitors along Hadrian's Wall and in Northumberland. Visitor Centre manager, Alison Blair, and centre information assistants Alison Allcock, Pam Heslop and Ruth Forster were congratulated for winning the regional Gold Award for Best Tourist Information Centre 2006. Once Brewed will go forward to the national awards next spring. The National Park runs three visitor centres with two others at Rothbury and Ingram in the Breamish Valley. Ingram was voted Best Visitor Experience in the UK All Parks survey in 2005.

John Riddle, Chairman of Northumberland National Park Authority said:

"We are very pleased that the Minister has made time to visit Northumberland National Park for its 50th year, and to meet members of our staff, partners and the rural community who work together to make it a living landscape able to welcome visitors sustainably."

At Once Brewed, the Minister planted a native rowan tree to mark the National Park's 50th Anniversary. He also met a wide range of farmers and businesses from the Hadrian's Wall corridor who have set up enterprises or installed renewable energy sources with the support of National Park and Defra sustainable and rural development grants.

Earlier in the day, Mr Gardiner was taken to Bellcrag Flow to see one of the sites in a globally-significant initiative to restore 240 hectares of blanket bog, which has been undertaken in partnership with the Forestry Commission, Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Natural England. More carbon is stored in the Border Mires, a unique wildlife habitat and European Special Area of Conservation (SAC), than in all the trees growing in the 62,000 hectare Kielder Forest. Restoring them to favourable conservation status means that peat will begin to accumulate again, locking up more carbon and helping to cope with climate change.