Two of England's best-known national parks, Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, are being targeted for an expansion that will add a combined 193 square miles to their footprint.

Natural England, that country's independent adviser on the natural environment, approved the expansion last week. It now is up to the country's Secretary of State to approve the additions.

The potential to extend the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks has been considered for a number of years. Natural England took over statutory responsibility for designating protected landscapes in 2006 and continued a major study of possible new areas around the two parks.

Detailed assessments have been made of three criteria for inclusion -- the natural beauty of the proposed extensions, the opportunities that they provide for open air recreation, and the desirability of looking after them as national parks. Impact assessments have helped identify the environmental, social, economic and recreational impacts that designation would be likely to bring.

Since 2009, two phases of face-to-face and online consultation have been conducted to ask for views from the public, local communities, statutory agencies, interested organisations and local authorities.  Over two-thirds of respondents said they were in favour of extending the national parks and there was widespread consensus that the proposals met the criteria, Natural England officials said in a release.

“The Board’s decision to proceed towards the designation of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks is the result of many years of detailed assessment work and public consultation," said Poul Christensen, who chairs the organization. "It represents an important opportunity to ensure that these special landscapes are looked after for future generations to enjoy. The decision to designate these areas is subject to confirmation by the Secretary of State and we look forward to presenting our recommendations to her in due course.” 

The proposed variation to the Yorkshire Dales National Park includes: to the north, parts of the Orton Fells, the northern Howgill Fells, Wild Boar Fell and Mallerstang; and to the west, Barbon, Middleton, Casterton and Leck Fells, the River Lune and, part of Firbank Fell and other fells to the west of the river.

The proposed variation to the Lake District National Park includes: to the east, an area from Birkbeck Fells Common to Whinfell Common; and to the south an area from Helsington Barrows to Sizergh Fell, and part of the Lyth Valley.