IT was, I suppose, a difficult question to pose, writes John Sheard. The fact that I had to put it under circumstances of self-created chaos added to the difficulty. But Steve Macar answered with a grin and refreshing openness.

Steve, almost 50 but looking 10 years younger, is three quarters through his first year in the hot seat as Chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and had, very kindly, agreed to come to my home for the interview on a roundabout journey from his home in Harrogate to Buxton in North Derbyshire.

And here he was, sitting on my backdoor steps, answering questions with a hint of a giggle in his voice because we were locked out: I had answered the front door, stepped outside, and the door had slammed closed behind me!

Not a good start but it brightened up when my kind neighbour Linda brought us a cup of coffee as we sat on the steps. Steve seemed totally unfazed even though I had an awkward point to raise.

You see, as a man born and bred in Harrogate, he does not really qualify as a Dalesman (or does Nidderdale count?). And this is a point of contention frequently raised by residents of the park.

"There are too many non-locals on the committee," is a remark I have heard scores of times.

Steve, a professional photographer by trade, shakes his head knowingly: "I know there are people in the park who look upon people from Harrogate people as townies. In Harrogate, we never feel that way.

"We look upon it as a pleasure and a privilege to have the Dales on our doorstep. I in fact live closer to our HQ in Grassington than many of the park residents up in Upper Wensleydale.

"That said, I have spent much of my life in the park, first as a boy scout out camping, then walking and taking photographs, and foralmost 20 years a member of the park committee.

"If I were not totally committed to maintaining the park as an area of exquisite countryside peopled by vibrant, economically thriving communities, I would never have taken the job. It is by no means an easy task."

Of that there is no doubt. Steve took over last September at a time of massive change and no little controversy.

The former chairman, Robert Heseltine, had given up the post after being charged with allegedly wrongly filing expenses claims - his trial is due in the next few weeks.

At the same time, the park committee itself was undergoing massive changes.

Once a part of North Yorkshire County Council - where Steve has been a Liberal-Democrat member since 1981 - it had just been made into a free-standing authority in its own right.

A bright new chief executive, Heather Hancock, had not long since taken up the reins to battle with a whole raft of new problems which had descended on Britain's uplands.

Hill farmers were, and still are, in a state of financial crisis; the Right to Roam Bill was causing an outcry amongst some landowners; the park planning committee had been reconstituted to include members of district and parish councils; and there was a threat that European Union funding was about to be slashed.

Despite all this, Steve Macar, whose father was a Dutch rubber planter in the Far East, looks back on his nine months in the chair with a little satisfaction and a good deal of optimism for the future.

"The plight of the hill farmers is one of our number one priorities," he says. "Few people realise that, throughout history, those farmers have often had other jobs to eke out the farm. They worked as tin miners, blacksmiths, dry-stone wallers and many other trades because many farms were never totally economic.

"Now, we have schemes like the Dales Lamb marketing drive, the Wensleydale Creamery up in Hawes which has been a major success, and there are some very interesting ideas in the pipeline.

"I cannot discuss these in detail, because talks are under way now between all the national parks, the Department of the Environment and the EU in Brussels to consider ways of helping hill-farmers to be paid for the work they do in landscape conservation.

"We are also working with many other bodies to improve life in the Dales so that fewer people have to move away to find work. Craven College will soon launch the College of the Dales for education is the key to the future. I don't want to see more outsiders moving into the Dales - I want to see more Dales folk staying here in well-paid, hi-tech jobs.

"And, by this, I don't mean jobs just in tourism. Tourism is part of the answer but not the whole answer. We need a spread of job opportunities and only education can create that."

Wow! There are words there which will delight the ear of many Dales folk, worried about being swamped by tourists or losing their children to the towns.

Let's wish Steve Macar luck, for he has a very tough job ahead. He might be considered a townie by some but he speaks some good, straight country sense.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.