Plans, strategies and policies

The long-term ambitions and strategies for the Yorkshire Dales National Park are set out in the seven 'aims' of the National Park Management Plan - The Yorkshire Dales: Today and Tomorrow 2007- 2012. These aims cover both statutory purposes as well as social and economic issues. The aims are broad and are supported by more specific five-year ambitions in the form of a series of ‘objectives’.

The Management Plan provides overall framework to guide the actions of bodies working in the National Park including the Authority, and it is supported by a number of strategies, which include more detailed ambitions for particular aspects of the National Park, for example: biodiversity, historic environment, woodland, integrated access, education and interpretation.

The aims of the Management Plan are carried through into specific objectives and actions in our annual Corporate Plan (formerly Best Value Performance Plan) which we publish at the end of June each year. It explains the role of the Authority and what we are trying to achieve, and outlines our performance over the past twelve months and what we intend to do in the future.

The Plan is written for groups and organisations with an interest in the Authority and its work; the organisations with whom we work; members and officers of the Authority; and the government and auditors, who will measure our performance and assess how successful we have been in improving our work. Our priorities for 2008/09 can be found in the Appendix along with details of our performance in recent years.

These ambitions for the National Park are based on a good understanding of local conditions in the National Park. The Authority has just published its second State of the Park Report: State of the Park Report 2005, containing a range of indicators covering the seven sections of the Management Plan. The report identifies the most significant pressures on the Park and likely challenges for the future. Our first State of the Park Report was published in 2001.

Copies of the following strategy and policy documents can be downloaded from our Document Library by clicking the link below:

An Integrated Access Strategy for the Yorkshire Dales National Park (2005)
Dales Woodland Strategy (1999)
Economic & Community Strategy (2000)
Education Strategy (2000)
Historic Environment Strategy (2002)
Interpretation Strategy (2005)
Nature in the Dales - a biodiversity action plan for the Yorkshire Dales National Park 2000
State of the Park Report 2001
State of the Park Report 2005
Yorkshire Dales Management Plan: The Yorkshire Dales Today and Tomorrow - 2000-2005
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Best Value Performance Plan 2005-6
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Best Value Performance Plan 2006-7
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Best Value Performance Plan 2007-8
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Performance Assessment Report - October 2005
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority - Plans, Strategies and Policies (opens Document Library