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How we work

It is said that any organisations greatest asset is its people. This is certainly the case at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. 

We have 25 Members – in many ways like a company’s board of directors. We have around 170 staff in total, equivalent to approximately 135 full time staff. We are also very fortunate to benefit from the work of around 250 Dales Volunteers.

Public meetings

We have a number of public committee meetings throughout the year. You can view upcoming and past meetings here.

In this section you can find out who all of these people are, what we do, and how we are organised.

The National Park Management Plan is a statutory document and every National Park in England has one. It is a plan for the National Park as a whole – its communities, businesses, visitors and the many organisations that operate there – not one for the National Park Authority specifically. The Plan is the National Park’s most important document as it sets out how organisations, communities and land owners will work together to achieve shared objectives for the future management of the National Park.

Find out more by visiting the Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan pages on our website.

Public consultation

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority works closely with local communities in order to fulfil our purposes. Public consultation is an important part of this process. Your opinions help to shape our policies and objectives for the future.

An integral part of providing high quality services is having a clear and realistic picture of how we are doing. We value your opinions and feedback on how we measure up to our standards, in fact it is vital to help us keep striving to be the best we can be. We have a set procedure for recording and dealing with any compliments and complaints – full details are on the ‘Making a compliment or complaint‘ page.

Find out more

Funding

Most of our funding comes from Central Government via the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the form of an annual grant settlement. We also attract significant external funding and generate our own income from a variety of other sources. Our Finance page contains detailed statements of our income and spending.

Find out more

  • Download our budgets and end of year statements of account since 2012 on the Finance page.
  • The Open data page makes available the details of any items of spending over £500 on a monthly basis.

Internal and external performance reports

We constantly monitor our performance throughout the year and our Audit and Review Committee meets 3 times each year to receive performance reports. Reviews are also carried out by our External Auditors annually and by representatives from other outside bodies including Investors in People and Customer Service Excellence. Our performance is also commented upon regularly by visitors to the Park.

The National Park Authority decides on its priorities for the future and drafts its objectives

The Authority’s work is split into ‘programmes’, which cover all the services we provide – from dealing with planning applications and farm conservation to looking after our public toilets and car parks. Each programme has a level of priority attached to it. This is to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately and that everyone is clear on where we are directing our efforts.

Find out more

Corporate Plan published

The Corporate Plan contains the objectives that are the National Park Authority’s contribution to delivering the National Park Management Plan. Progress towards achieving the objectives set in the Corporate Plan is monitored annually and reported to Members of the Authority.

Find out more

Action plan and budgets published

The approved budgets are published once approved by Members.

Authority staff and Dales Volunteers do the work.