Posted by RichardG on December 10, 2004 at 14:44:46 from 212.137.34.25 user RichardG.
In Reply to: Re: not ALL land is owned by somebody in the USA posted by Robert Dilley on December 09, 2004 at 20:39:41:
"National Park designation in the UK does not involve title to the land -- just adds controls on what the land can be used for (whether you can have a caravan site in your field, for instance)."
In the UK, you would not be allowed to have a caravan site in your field without planning permission, whether you are in a National Park or not. National Park Authorities usually take over some of the normal duties from local authorities, including the planning ones, and tend to view development applications under stricter rules than apply outside the parks.
When the Snowdonia National Park was set up, certain areas of the old county of Merioneth were excluded from its boundaries, so that in theory they could be developed free of its restrictions - they were usually old slate-mining areas like Blaenau Ffestiniog or coastal holiday towns like Tywyn or Barmouth. However, there was so little left of the county outside the park that, rather than have a separate planning office, they sub-contracted the role to the SNP, who tended to apply the same rules to the whole county, whether inside the park or not. When Merioneth was subsumed into Gwynedd, they set up a separate planning authority, so that now any developments on the edge of the park or crossing the boundary have to go through two sets of planners before gaining approval.
On balance, National Parks are a benefit - but when arguing with their planners, you sometimes tend to doubt it !