HIGH-PROFILE environmentalists have highlighted their fears over the future of Britain’s national parks in the wake of Government spending cuts.

The Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales are two of the parks which they claim could suffer if funding for conservation is reduced.

The Department for Enviro-nment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is currently asking people what they believe should be done to improve national parks in a consultation that runs until February.

But in a letter pub-lished in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, TV adventurer Ben Fogle, who is president of the Campaign for National Parks, joined mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington, Ramblers’ Association campaigner Janet Street-Porter, BBC presenter Nick Crane and climber Leo Houlding to express concern over future of national parks.

They said “The role of national parks has never been so vital. They bring pleasure and a much-needed escape from the stresses of everyday life to the millions who visit them every year. They are havens for many species and will make a major contribution to tackling climate change.”

It ended: “Government grants are the parks’ biggest source of income. If they are cut radically, we will all be the poorer.”

Mr Houlding, who lives at Staveley, said: “The Government is trying to slash the deficit for the next five years but national parks are going to be there for the next five generations.

“These cuts could potentially have negative connotations for the wilderness and the Lake District forms a huge part of the economy in the region. The visitor experience needs to be taken into consideration and maintained.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “We’re getting people’s views on how they believe their parks should be run and we are just consulting at this stage.”

To take part in the consultation go to www.defra.gov.uk