The Yorkshire Dales National Park has secured £1 million worth of funding for various projects.

The cash, from a variety of Government pots, means the authority can press on with schemes as diverse as rural traffic management in Wharfedale, a facelift for the Grassington National Park Centre, stabilisation and environmental interpretation work at Langcliffe Quarry and the historic Hoffmann Kiln, and a programme of works for the nationally important lead mining remains near Grassington. And there is also money available for an environmental project on the River Swale.

Chairman of the park authority, Councillor Robert Heseltine, is delighted with the cash injection.

He said: "Father Christmas has come early to the Yorkshire Dales. This additional resource from the Government is yet further confirmation and vindication of the progressive policies we have been confidently promoting through the 1990s.

The main element of the funding is for rural transport initiatives along the "Wharfedale corridor" - something which the park has been working towards for the last six years, said Mr Heseltine.

The authority has received £300,000 for the package of schemes and will liaise closely with the Duke of Devonshire's Bolton Abbey estate, the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway Company and other transport providers to work up projects. These could include a park and ride system from Grassington, and improved bus services from Skipton and Ilkley to upper Wharfedale and Malham.

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