Housing in National Parks

I live just outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park (YDNP), and housing has been a major issue round here for a long time, and is getting worse. The government tell Craven District Council that they have to build X number of houses, but a large proportion of the district comes under YDNP, who consistently refuse permission for new builds, and even barn conversions. So all of these new houses end up having to be built around the outskirts, ie Here. This is causing our villages to become more like small towns, merge into each other, and generally become soulless, particularly as we are within commuting reach of Leeds/Bradford & even Manchester. We have seen huge protests at planning meetings recently as yet another green field looks set to become the site of 77 new houses.

It is paticularly bad for people who were born in villages within YDNP, who can't afford to buy a wooden shack where they were born, but see half the village empty for 50% of the year because of holiday cottages & second homes.

However it seems that, probably 10- 15 years too late, the YDNP Authority are getting the message...BBC NEWS | England | North Yorkshire | National park chiefs in land plea

Shame it took Prince Charles 'having a word' to make a difference, and not common sense, or care for the people whose lives they more or less control.

I'm all for conservation, but when a whole swathe of the countryside is being kept "pure" for the sake of holiday makers, well, the priorities are obviously wrong, in my opinion.