Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 19 October 2022.
Yes, so, national parks absolutely do need to respond to local people and their concerns and they must, of course, be representative of the communities they serve, but national parks also serve all of the people of Wales—they are, obviously, our 'national' parks, and it's very important that the national park authorities respond to both local and national needs. And so, we must make sure that their governance and their accountability reflect the need to reflect that engaged community inside the national park and on the edges of the national park, but also that they're there for the future of all of the people of Wales.
So, we work very closely with the national parks to engage widely when we develop the management plans and the other priorities. We need to have specific expertise on the national parks, as well as the local councillors who contribute so much. So, I'm very keen to make sure that we have a range of expert voices as well from the Welsh Government appointments. So, I'm not entirely certain that I agree with you that they should be people who live in Wales, although, obviously, where we have the expertise in Wales, we would certainly seek to do that. What we're much more keen on is making sure that the national park has a range of expertise available to it, both on its board, if you like—because that's what the council itself actually is—and then in the range of experts that we engage with in order to get the best possible outcome for both the people in the community itself, but very importantly for all of the people of Wales and, actually, the UK and globally, because the national parks are, of course, part of our protected landscape.