LAKE District bosses are spearheading a nationwide battle against plans that they say would literally wipe national parks off the map, reports Michaela Robinson-Tate.

The public is being urged to back the campaign to persuade Ordnance Survey not to delete national park boundaries from its renowned Explorer Map series.

Lake District National Park Authority chiefs are particularly aggrieved at the move to downgrade their status, because it comes at the same time as they are being given extra responsibility for new rules governing access to the countryside.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins is also opposed to the plans, which he says would have the effect of airbrushing national parks out of existence.

The decision by Ordnance Survey has been prompted by the introduction of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, which will necessitate extra information about access being included on maps.

The OS, which prints ten million maps each year, says that if the new data was added to what was already shown, then the Explorer maps, which are targeted at walkers, cyclists, ramblers and horse riders, would become cluttered and would not be clear enough.

LDNPA head of park management Bob Cartwright, who is leading the Association of National Park Authorities' opposition to the plan, said the new Act gave national park authorities responsibility for managing the rights of access, and giving advice on which areas were open.

The authority therefore had an essential role as a point of information, and it was even more important for the park's boundaries to be clear.

"They (the OS) are saying their own customer research shows the public are not interested in national park boundaries and we think that is probably wrong because the evidence we are getting from talking to visitors is that they very much want to know where the boundary is."

A recent Audit Commission report had said that national parks should do more to promote awareness of their role: "It seems extremely strange that a national agency is downgrading the status of national parks and erasing them from the map."

Local people also needed the information, as the authority was responsible for planning applications. He urged members of the public who agreed to write to the OS.

Ldnpa officer Paul Tiplady has written to MPs Tim Collins, David Maclean, Jack Cunningham and Tony Cunningham, whose constituencies include areas of the park, asking for their support.

Mr Collins said there had been attempts to put the Lake District on the international map through, for example, declaring it a World Heritage Site.

"It does seem extraordinary that here in the UK we should be literally airbrushing the national park off the map.

"What we should be doing is more to bring to everybody's attention the fact the national park is here, the work it does and the tremendous landscape it represents."

There was evidence, he said, that visitors were more careful about behaviour like dropping litter when they knew they were in a national park.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority also faces having its boundaries removed from the maps, and is opposed to the move.

Ordnance Survey chief press officer Scott Sinclair said the removal of the national park boundaries was part of a solution to ensure the maps remained clear.

The boundary would still be visible on the cover of the map, he said, and would be included on other OS maps like the Land Ranger series. Their customers had told them it was more important for them to know where the new access areas were.

However, the OS wanted to ensure the map design was the best possible, and people were welcome to contact the organisation.

"The formal consultation is over but we will continue to listen to people," he said.

l Letters can be sent to Vanessa Lawrence, director general, Ordnance Survey, Romsey Road, Southampton SO16 4GU.

May 16, 2003 09:00