Budget week in Westminster: Implications for National Parks

Published: 27 November 2025

This week has seen a flurry of announcements from Ministers that could have significant consequences for National Parks in England and Wales. 

Overnight accommodation levy

On Tuesday the Communities Secretary announced plans to give Mayoral Authorities in England the power to introduce an overnight accommodation levy, with a public consultation running until February 2026. As these proposals develop, it is crucial that any levy is designed to deliver benefits across the country, including for National Parks. These landscapes play a vital role in sustaining rural economies, attracting millions of visitors each year, and protecting some of our most iconic wildlife, heritage sites, and natural beauty. Given their national importance and the pressures they face, National Parks should be clear beneficiaries of any visitor levy introduced. 

For a levy to be effective, a meaningful share of revenue raised within National Parks must be ring-fenced for spending by National Park Authorities (NPAs). This would give NPAs more resources to protect landscapes, maintain essential infrastructure, improve visitor services, and address local priorities. Without direct allocation, there is a real risk that funds could be absorbed into wider local authority budgets rather than supporting the National Parks that generate the visitor numbers in the first place. While the current proposals for the levy place a strong emphasis on driving economic growth, it is equally essential that a proportion of the funds are specifically ring-fenced for nature recovery and the protection of the natural environment that underpins each park’s visitor economy. 

We would also want to see a more progressive, percentage-based levy on overnight accommodation, where stays in budget options such as hostels attract a much smaller charge compared to higher rates for high-end hotels. Possible exemptions or reduced rates for young people, students, low-income households, and other key groups would further help ensure that the levy does not compromise accessible and inclusive enjoyment for all. We have been making similar calls for an equitable visitor levy in Wales. 

The visitor levy proposals in England have received a mixed response from the National Parks sector – Friends of the Lake District have welcomed the plans while YHA have voiced concerns about affordability. 

Of course, a visitor levy is not a substitute for proper, long-term public funding of our National Parks. Despite their national significance, NPAs have faced a 40% real-terms funding cut since 2010, and the current Budget settlement offers no relief. While Defra received a small uplift to its capital budget, its revenue budget is set to fall year on year from £5 billion in 2024-25 to £4.7 billion by 2028-29. This will likely pile more pressure on NPA budgets that have been increasingly slashed over the last decade.  

These continuing cuts have forced many NPAs into difficult decisions, including selling publicly owned land, closing visitor services, and scaling back maintenance of rights-of-way. Sustained, healthy public funding is essential to ensure National Parks can safeguard nature, provide public access, deliver climate resilience, and thrive for the future.  

You can help us stop the cuts here. 

Defending the Protected Landscapes Duty

Meanwhile, in today’s Budget the government officially responded to Monday’s nuclear taskforce report, which includes proposals that could reduce environmental safeguards, including limiting or removing the Protected Landscapes Duty that we helped secure in 2022. Worryingly, the government “accepts the principle of all the recommendations it [the taskforce] has set out,” despite Ministers telling Parliament last month they had “no plans to repeal” the duty. This came in response to our letter to the Prime Minister demanding that the duty be protected, co-signed by over 200 organisations. We have written to Ministers seeking urgent reassurance that this vital legislation will not be weakened – more details here. 

Putting National Parks at the heart of water reforms

The Budget also confirmed plans to publish a White Paper on water reform later this year, following Sir Jon Cunliffe’s independent review. We have written to Ministers in England and Wales to emphasise that these reforms are a crucial opportunity to tackle long-standing water quality issues in National Parks. Our Rivers at Risk report, produced with the Rivers Trust, found that sewage spills from treatment works in National Parks occur at twice the rate of those outside, reflecting historic gaps between water and landscape policy. We are urging Ministers to use the White Paper to establish legally binding water quality standards, improve storm overflow management, and set high ecological targets for rivers, lakes, and wetlands in National Parks, ensuring these landscapes are properly protected for the future.  

You can take action with us here.