LOCAL air cadets have joined forces with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to carry out restoration work on a popular footpath close to Victoria Cave near Settle.

Sixty youngsters from Air Training Corps in Skipton and Keighley helped national park staff to carry out essential repair work at the weekend.

Their efforts began after a helicopter airlifted materials to the inaccessible site as part of a project funded by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

The footpath runs along the base of Langcliffe Scar, and becomes difficult to use during wet weather because of its muddy state and protruding boulders.

"The Air Cadets made an invaluable contribution, and the work will enhance people's enjoyment of this spectacular area for years to come," said Kate Hilditch, who oversaw the work for the national park.

The aim was to create an aggregate-surfaced path which was not only easier to use but also more durable. Forty tonnes of limestone was used to restore the 450-metre path, and was mixed with topsoil to blend in with the surroundings.

*The Dales National Park has spoken out about the future well being of rural communities in the northern uplands at the 1998 Conference of National Park Authorities.

Chairman Robert Heseltine lobbied Graham Meadows, of the European Commission, over the likelihood of the northern national parks receiving continued funding when the Objective 5b pot was wound up next year.

He told him: "The national parks have benefited greatly from Objective 5b designation and we fear for their economies and landscapes if we do not have continuity of funding.

"We need to persuade our Government and the European Commission of the importance of recognising that sustaining the quality of the landscape and the survival of upland agriculture and the rural economy are linked.

"A devastated agricultural sector and a declining rural economy lead directly to a dilapidated landscape."

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