Richard Exell

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the Campaign for National Parks and the Ramblers’ Association have warned that the cuts facing the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) threaten the national parks. The signatories, who include Chris Bonnington, Ben Fogle and Janet Street-Porter, point out that the national parks cannot raise rates and their funding depends on Defra – which has to make some of the deepest cuts in Whitehall. The Campaign for National Parks is also running a campaign against the cuts, encouraging supporters to write to Richard Benyon, the National Parks Minister.