Championing National Parks

Championing National Parks for everyone

Our vision is that everyone should be confident to visit and enjoy our National Parks. This means that everyone can receive the health and well-being benefits of spending time in the parks and has the knowledge to help protect them. However, we know there are inequalities in accessing the national parks, including people from ethnically diverse communities.

We have received a development grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to begin developing the Championing National Parks for Everyone Project. The project aims to work with people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

The project is led by the charity Peak District Mosaic. They will work with the Peak District National Park, North York Moors National Park and Yorkshire Dales National Park to run the project across those different parks and their nearby cities. Derbyshire Dales Council for Voluntary Service is also a project partner, working to help build capacity and infrastructure.

We hope that the project will support more people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities to have the skills and resources to build a lifelong relationship with their National Parks.

What we hope the project will achieve

We are currently developing a range of opportunities across and around the three National Parks.

We hope the final project will work with people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities to;

• Support more people to connect with nature and enjoy the National Parks
• Deliver outdoor activity days and training events that develop skills, confidence and awareness of the benefits of National Parks
• Deliver training sessions and provide resources to create a network of Community Champions, who are empowered to lead their own visits that introduce others to the National Parks in the way they think best
• Provide new employment and training opportunities in the sector
• Provide a variety of volunteering opportunities meeting the needs and interests of these communities

To find out more visit the Peak District Mosaic website.

Developing and getting feedback on our plan

The project is currently in a development phase from November 2022 until August 2023. Co-creation is central to the project’s vision - and as part of this, we will run a series of networking and consultation events.

We plan to work closely with individuals and organisations at these events to;

• Share our plans about the project in more detail
• Consult and get feedback to develop our plans to meet the needs of different communities
• Begin to build a network of organisations interested in working together in the future, to understand shared challenges and develop solutions

Following this, we will submit our final plans to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for approval in August. If we are successful in our application, we hope the project will start in early 2024.

The Championing National Parks Campaign is made possible with the National Lotter Heritage Fund.