Countryside campaigners fight to protect rolling acres of heather (From Gazette & Herald)

Countryside campaigners fight to protect rolling acres of heather

WARNINGS that the rolling acres of heather moorland in the North York Moors National Park could be at risk have been made by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

After hundreds of years of grazing by sheep, which has resulted in the heather thriving and bracken and scrub kept under control, there are fears, says the CPRE, that farmers will give up their flocks under the new system of farm payment.

John Farquhar, of Ampleforth, the regional voice on the CPRE and a leading member of the North Yorkshire Moors Association, says that under the new system farmers will not be able to make a living.

He said the National Trust, which owns large areas of upland farms in the park, has calculated that for some of the 60 farms their farm payments will be halved.

"Small farms will suffer more than large ones, and those with a lot of land classed as moorland will suffer more than others, but all will find it very hard to make a living from farming."

Mr Farquhar added that the National Trust says that gross margins will be very low and in some cases, negative.

Some farmers will sell up and retire, especially as many are getting old, he said.

"There will be little incentive for anyone to take over. Others may stay but give up the arduous task of looking after sheep and cattle and enjoy some rough shooting."

Mr Farquhar says tourism is a key income earner for people living in the park. "Having this wild unspoiled countryside on our doorstep adds a lot to the attraction of living in the north. People want to work here, and it's a good place to locate a new business.

"In other words, it makes good economic sense to maintain the upland landscape and to help the farmers who do this for us."

He said the National Farmers' Union and the National Turst were pressing for additional financial support to be given to upland livestock farmers as a matter of urgency, to enable them to adjust to the new regime.

"In the long run the new Environmental Stewardship Schemes which are being introduced will reqard farmers and moorland managers for the work they do to maintain landscape and wildlife, but we want them and their cattle and sheep, to be there to do so, we must help them now. The CPRE is pressing the Government to act quickly."

CPRE was urging decision makers to safeguard the moorlands. "If they go, the landscapes go, and so will the tourists, the villages, shops and school.

"We want our regional and local plans to have policies to protect upland landscapes and communities. We want The Northern Way - the Government's vision for the north - to recognise that new business won't come to a region where the stone walls are crumbling, the field barns are in ruins and the heather is swamped by bracken."

Updated: 15:38 Wednesday, April 12, 2006