National Park Expansion and Preservation Act 2020

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1 Repeal

1. The Green Belt Reform Act 2020 is repealed in its entirety.
2. All areas designated as "Green Belts" across the entirety of the United Kingdom are abolished in their entirety.
3. All 15 areas designated as National Parks in Great Britain shall be abolished in their entirety.

2 Definition of "agricultural land"

1. Land is recognized as being agricultural if:
   1. It is being used primarily for the purpose of raising crops meant to be harvested or left fallow.
   2. It does not have a substantial level of biodiversity.
2. Land is considered “biodiverse” if, after data collection and assessment by experts in ecology, its species or genetic biodiversity index is significant as decided by members of the panel, outlined in Section 3(5).

3 Definition of "mass transit"

1. Mass Transit shall be defined public, high capacity personal transportation, including, and limited to:
   1. Subterranean rail
   2. Conventional surface rail
   3. Tram rail
   4. High-capacity bus

4 Land Management UK

1. A new organisation, chartered as “Land Management United Kingdom”, shall be formed under the authority of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

2. The organisation shall be headed by a Governor, appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

   1. The Governor must be an incumbent, or previous, administration of a current National park in England, Wales, or Scotland.
   2. The Governor shall be compensated at Staff Grade 5.

3. The Secretary of State shall also appoint a Board of Administrators, which shall become the administrative and policy-making body of Land Management United Kingdom.

   1. It is suggested that the people who are selected for the Board of Administrators will be members of authority that have degrees in Ecology, Environmental Studies, Transit, and Urban Planning, and are from all areas of society.
   2. The Board of Administrators shall have no more than twenty-one members, but no less than fifteen.
   3. The members of the Board of Administrators must first be sourced from the staff currently employed by the existing National Parks and Green Belt authorities.
   4. If the Secretary of State determines that they are unable to source a sufficient number of members from these authorities, they may then hire from both the civil service and outside experts for the task.
   5. All members of the Board of Administrators shall be compensated at Staff Grade 4.

4. The Governor and Board of Administrators are to determine areas currently under management by the 15 National Parks as being used for resource extraction, human settlement, or designated in any local development framework as being economically important for growth and development in the next twenty five years.

   1. The areas designated shall be placed under the full management of Land Management UK.

5. A panel of experts shall be assembled to assess the current Green Belt.

   1. The Panel of Experts shall be identical to that assembled for the removal of Green Belt restrictions in Green Belt Reform Act 2020.
   2. The Panel shall determine all eligible land which does not fit the definition of “agricultural land” as defined in Section 2.
   3. All eligible land found in Section 4(5)b shall be placed under the full management of Land Management UK.
6. Housing Restrictions in areas under management of Land Management United Kingdom.
   1. There can be no low density housing or factories developed in the areas under management of Land Management United Kingdom.
      1. Low density housing is defined as being below 30 dwellings/hectare.
      2. Factories are defined as places that manufacture goods that are made via unskilled labour, via automation or by more than five people.
   2. These new developments will be encouraged to be Car Free Zones, with incentives mandated by the Secretary of State at their discretion.
      1. All houses constructed in this new development shall be barred from having a driveway.
   3. All developments must have plans for local community centres, recreational activities, and open parks.
   4. All developments must have a working plan for sustainable energy use and a report on minimising carbon emissions.
   5. The panel of experts as defined in Section 4(5)a shall implement Housing Restrictions in the New Developments to promote sustainability, minimal carbon emissions, and ways to ensure the development has net negative or net neutral effect on carbon emissions and carbon capture over the current status of extant Green Belt land.
   6. The ground floor of all buildings constructed in these new developments must be reserved for commercial or residential development, with a density of commercial establishments being at least 25% of all ground floor construction.
   7. All current developments are grandfathered in to this legislation.
      1. Improvement and maintenance of existing structures shall be allowed, and exempt from these regulations. New outbuildings, garages, and driveways are allowed to be constructed on existing plots.
      2. Factories currently in operation will operate unmolested for a period of thirty-five years, in which the land shall be re-zoned for commercial, residential, or park land.
   8. Amenities, Transit, and Further Restrictions of Housing and Development under management of Land Management United Kingdom.
      1. In all new developments on land under management of Land Management United Kingdom, hereinafter known as “new developments” in Section 4(7), car parks are prohibited from being constructed.
         1. This regulation shall apply to all level, subterranean, and multi-level car parks.
         2. This regulation shall not apply for a Mass Transit Stop.
      2. Any roadway that is a main throughway for traffic that is not strictly local and residential must be wide enough to accommodate local vehicle and bus traffic, as well as parking spaces for residents on the sides of the road.
         1. The parking regulation shall not apply for the frontage area of ground floor units zoned for commercial activities, to ensure that parked cars do not obstruct the view of the commercial activity.
      3. Within the new developments, land may be allocated for the construction of a bus depot, to act as a local mass transit system.
         1. The stops shall included, but are not limited to, the transit stop as defined in Section 3, any local recreational facilities, and regions of major shopping activity.
      4. Any roadway that is a main throughway for traffic that is not strictly local and residential will be required to facilitate a bus lane in either direction.
      5. All buses in the new developments must be of a clean energy source, and cannot be powered primarily or secondarily by fossil fuels.
      6. The local authority shall have control over this new transit method.
      7. All petrol and/or diesel pumping stations inside the new developments must levy a charge of not more than twenty-five per cent of the sale price of the hydrocarbons sold, to be remitted to the Government for local upkeep of infrastructure.
   9. Resource Extraction in areas under management of Land Management United Kingdom.
      1. Any corporation that seeks to engage in economic activity in areas under management of Land Management United Kingdom, must provide a sustainability white paper which indicates that no long-term damage will be inflicted on the environment, and that the economic activity shows a clear and vital need to exist for the economy of the United Kingdom.
         1. The white paper shall be reviewed by the Governor and Board of Administrators, which must approve or deny it with a three-fourths majority vote.
         2. A six month waiting period shall take place after approval, after which, a second approval of a simple majority must take place.
         3. After the second approval, the economic activity will be added to the Local development framework.
      2. Each year, the corporation must submit a yearly report to Land Management United Kingdom that lists any and all environmental damages that have been caused, including, but not limited to:
         1. number of trees felled
         2. cubic metres of soil, earth, rock, or peat removed
         3. mileage of metalled roads constructed for extraction purposes, or improvements made to roadways including, but not limited to, the construction of water drainage, culverts, bridges, weirs, dams, and other water control measures
         4. amount of low shrub clearing
         5. if pesticides, weed killers, or other chemical solutions were used in the area
      3. The report as specified in Section 4(7)b shall be costed for environmental damage by a regulatory body appointed by the Governor and the Board of Administrators, and a penalty of above fifty, but below two hundred, per cent of the cost shall be levied against the corporation.
      4. The Governor and the Board of Administrators shall maintain yearly random checks of corporation’s files and records to ensure compliance.

5 National Parks United Kingdom

1. A new organisation, chartered as “National Parks United Kingdom”, shall be formed under the authority of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

2. The organisation shall be headed by a Governor, appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

   1. The Governor must be an incumbent, or previous, administration of a current National park in England, Wales, or Scotland.
   2. The Governor shall be compensated at Staff Grade 5.

3. The Secretary of State shall also appoint a Board of Administrators, which shall become the administrative and policy-making body of National Parks United Kingdom.

   1. It is mandatory that the people who are selected for the Board of Administrators will be members of authority that have degrees in Ecology, Conservation, or Environmental Studies, and are from all areas of society.
   2. The Board of Administrators shall have no more than twenty-one members, but no less than fifteen.
   3. The members of the Board of Administrators must first be sourced from the staff currently employed by the existing National Parks and Green Belt authorities.
   4. If the Secretary of State determines that they are unable to source a sufficient number of members from these authorities, they may then hire from both the civil service and outside experts for the task.
   5. All members of the Board of Administrators shall be compensated at Staff Grade 4.

4. National Parks United Kingdom shall be organised around the principle of meeting International Union for Conservation of Nature’s guidelines for Category I or Category II conservation.

5. In order to preserve Britain’s historic environmental heritage, all lands in various Green Belts and National Parks that were not subject the criteria laid out in Section 3 and transferred to Land Management United Kingdom, shall be transferred to National Parks United Kingdom.

6. The Governor and Board of Administrators shall be tasked with adding lands to the control of National Parks United Kingdom for preservation and conservation.

   1. By 2030, the amount of land under the administration of National Parks United Kingdom shall be no less than sixty thousand square kilometres.
   2. The Governor and Board of Administrators must prioritise land that is valuable towards conservation, and no less than thirty thousand square kilometres must be made available for public benefit in the form of a National Park for recreation.

7. National Parks United Kingdom is authorised to levy fees for maintenance and staffing of National Parks.

   1. Fees are limited to being for parking or entrance only.
   2. Combined parking or entrance fees cannot exceed that of ten pounds sterling, to be raised according to inflation periodically by the Board of Administrators.
   3. For National Parks which are formed from territory in full or in part from extant Green Belt land, there must be a form of mass transit, as outlined in Section 3, to allow city residents a method of enjoying the National Park.
      1. Such measure will not apply for Green Belt land which is deemed unsuitable for a Park, by the Governor and Board of Administrators of National Parks United Kingdom, due to the following factors:
         1. Of size
         2. Of cost of mass transit
         3. Of ecological damage
   4. National Parks United Kingdom shall be broken down into six administrative divisions, with each division being responsible for the administration and function of the National Parks in their boundaries.
      1. The administrative regions are as follows:
         1. The South (South West & South East)
         2. London & East of England (London & East of England)
         3. The Midlands (West Midlands & East Midlands)
         4. The North (North West, North East, & Yorkshire and the Humber)
         5. Wales
         6. Scotland
      2. For National Parks which fall between two administrative divisions, the division responsible shall be the division in which a majority of the park is located.

6 Short title, commencement and extent

1. This Act may be cited as the National Park Expansion and Preservation Act 2020.
2. The Act comes into force on royal assent.
3. This Act extends to Great Britain.