NATIONAL PARKS WEEK

That this House welcomes National Parks Week, which runs from 30th July to 5th August and aims to remind people of Britain's 14 national parks, which already attract around 150 million visitors every year, bringing vital sources of income to many local economies; and furthermore supports the introduction, as is already the case in national parks in Scotland, of direct elections to national park authorities in England and Wales, in order to make national parks and their members accountable to local residents and to ensure that national parks are more mindful of the needs of local communities.