Announcement to create largest area of national park land in England welcomed by campaigners after two-year wait for decision

Two of England’s most celebrated national parks, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District, are being extended, the government has announced.

The Yorkshire Dales national park will expand by almost 24% and the Lake District national park by 3%, creating a large and almost continuous protected area in north-west England.

The additional 188 square miles (48,7oo hectares) of national park land will include parts of the Orton fells, the northern Howgill fells, Wild Boar fell and Mallerstang, as well as Barbon, Middleton, Casterton and Leck fells in the Yorkshire Dales. In the Lake District, newly protected areas include from Birkbeck fells common to Whinfell common and an area from Helsington Barrows to Sizergh fell.

The extensions come into effect from August 2016. They follow a public enquiry and are in line with recommendations made by the government’s advisors at Natural England. Campaigners had been frustrated that it had taken the government two years to make a decision on the Planning Inspector’s report.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Autumn in the Yorkshire Dales. Photograph: Graham/Rex Shutterstock

Environment secretary Liz Truss made the announcement during a visit to Wensleydale Creamery, based in the Yorkshire Dales national park and home of the protected Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese. She said the extensions would protect the land for future generations as well as boosting tourism and supporting rural businesses.

“The Dales and the Lakes have some of our country’s finest landscapes, beautiful vistas and exciting wildlife. They are part of our national identity,” she said. “National parks are fabulous national assets that welcome over 90 million tourists and contribute to our vibrant rural economy – we are committed to helping them thrive.”

Fiona Howie, chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks, said: “This is absolutely fantastic news. Very simply, these are beautiful, inspiring and important areas of the countryside that always deserved to be part of our national parks. They were originally excluded because of administrative reasons but now, after years of hard work by a lot of people, this is now going to be put right.”

Howie said proposed extension areas for the Lake District national park had been accepted in their entirety, and there were only two minor areas not accepted in the Yorkshire Dales park.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The expansion of the area would protect more space for subsequent generations, the environment secretary, Elizabeth Truss, said. Photograph: Robert Harding World Imagery/Alamy

Emma Marrington, at the Campaign to Protect Rural England also welcomed the news. “This extension form[s] a ‘bridge’ that includes iconic landscapes such as the Orton and Howgill fells in Yorkshire and large tracts of common land in Cumbria. This announcement has been a long time coming.”

She said: “Only our finest landscapes are granted national park status. National parks enjoy the highest level of planning protection and are exemplars of sustainable development. The challenge now is to ensure that the two national park authorities have the resources they need to protect and enhance these landscapes in the long-term.”

Natural England chairman, Andrew Sells, said: “They represent some of England’s most treasured natural assets. With international appeal, their stunning landscapes stand out as a beacon to the people who come to enjoy them whilst their intrinsic value drives the communities, businesses and biodiversity they support.”