Northumberland National Park Management Plan
Current National Park Management Plan
Please click here to download the current Northumberland National Park Management Plan (PDF Format, 1755KB).
Progress to date and consultation on the new National Park Management Plan issues, goals and milestones
Following the very successful stakeholder and staff/ Member workshops in March there has been a lot of work identifying issues, aims, objectives and actions for the new Northumberland National Park Management Plan (NPMP). The following activities have taken place since March:
April
Meeting of the NPMP Key Partners group to:
*discuss the feedback from the workshops;
*inform the emerging evidence base for the NPMP (the State of the Park report);
*agree a draft structure for the NPMP; and
*agree the terms of reference of themed sub-groups to further discuss issues and options for the NPMP.
May - June
A requirement for four themed sub-groups was identified by the Key Partners group. These groups will focus on the themes set out within the draft Management Plan structure as follows:
*Special Qualities;
*Understanding and Enjoyment;
*Living, Working, Landscape; and
*Thriving Communities.
Everyone who attended the stakeholder workshop in March and had expressed an interest in attending a sub-group were invited to attend the meetings plus additional organisations and individuals identified by NNPA staff. The sub-group meetings took place during June and were led by NNPA officers. The role of the sub-groups were to identify:
*The key issues for each theme;
*Where we want to go and how are we going to get there (aims, objectives and actions);
*Which organisations should lead on the implementation; and
*Any targets necessary to monitor the delivery of the actions.
The subgroups were well attended with good discussion, and stakeholders were committed to continuing engagement in the process. In addition to the sub-groups Northumberland National Park Authority (NNPA) Area Teams held focussed discussions with representation from businesses across the Park
July
The Key Partners met again in July to discuss the results of the subgroup meetings. Partners welcomed the commitment from a wide range of organisations and individuals to developing the NPMP.
This table sets out the emerging issues, long term goals and milestones for the NNP Management Plan - this has been compiled from all of the discussions that have taken place to date (highlighted above).
Comments on the table were invited by 6th October 2008.
Next Steps:
*Targeted public engagement through key community structures on the emerging issues, long term goals and milestones during September - led by NNPA Area Teams;
*Plan drafting August to November with targeted input from Key Partners;
*Draft NPMP to NNPA in December;
*Formal consultation period on draft NPMP - 6 weeks during January and February 2009;
*Amendments to NPMP following consultation, February - May 2009;
*Final NPMP to NNPA June 2009.
Review of National Park Management Plan
In January 2007 the National Park Authority endorsed the need for a Member/ Officer Working Group to assess the existing Management Plan and to establish whether there was a need for a full review. At the first meeting of the Working Group it was considered by the Group that the current Management Plan was not guiding the work of the Authority, partner organisations, or the aspirations of communities. Therefore the Working Group recommended to the Authority in September 2007 that a full review of the Plan should be undertaken and that this review should be steered by key strategic partners and should fully engage local communities.
The key strategic partners involved in the review include;
- Defence Estates
- English Heritage
- Environment Agency
- Forestry Commission
- Joint Local Access Forum
- Lilburn Estates
- National Farmers Union
- Natural England
- Northumberland County Council; and
- ONE NorthEast
- Action Area Forum
Workshops were held in March 2008 for stakeholders of the Northumberland National Park and for members and staff of the National Park Authority, the reports on these events can be found here;
- stakeholders report (powerpoint presentation)
- members and staff report (powerpoint presentation)
From the issues identified in the above reports sub-groups have formed to identify the aims and objectives, key issues, who leads on implemeting the actions and any necessary targets to monitor the achievements. This work will form a draft Management Plan which will undergo a 6 week period of public consultation in October/ November with endorsment of the final plan by the partners in April 2009.
