Extension seen by some as further erosion of Red rose county by white, with fears larger protected area may create pitfalls for farmers and landowners

It is more than 500 years since the House of Lancaster won the ultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, but the Yorkies have finally wrought their revenge. On Monday, despite protests by farmers in the red rose county, a lovely little corner of Lancashire found itself subsumed by the Yorkshire Dales, after the national park increased in size by 24%.

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Under reforms unveiled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), 1% of the newly enlarged Yorkshire Dales is now actually in Lancashire’s Upper Lune valley, with a much larger chunk snaffled from Cumbria. The park now includes Leck Fell, near Kirkby Lonsdale, which hitherto stood proudly as Lancashire’s highest point, providing extensive views towards Morecambe Bay, the Forest of Bowland – and the Lake District, which itself expanded by 3% on Monday under the Defra plans.

The move — implemented on Yorkshire Day is viewed by some as the further erosion of Lancashire by its insufferably bumptious neighbour, which is getting far too big for its boots after wooing the French over to host the Tour de France in 2014 and effectively coming 12th in the Olympic medal table in 2012.

In written submissions to Natural England, which held an inquiry into the national park extension, MPs David Nuttall and Simon Danczuk argued on behalf of the Friends of Real Lancashire that labelling parts of the county under the Yorkshire banner would further erode the historic county, which had already lost land to “Greater Manchester” during local government reforms in 1972.

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Susie Charles, Conservative councillor for Leck, also opposed the move on the grounds that many farmers and landowners feared the “red tape and bureaucracy” that comes with owning property and running businesses in a national park. “It will be much more difficult for them to get planning permission now,” she said.

But the naysayers were in the minority. Of the 3,043 responses submitted to Natural England’s inquiry, just 220 objected. At the Hipping Hall hotel in Cowan Bridge, which has squeaked into the Yorkshire Dales by metres, operations director Tom Lewis was cock-a-hoop. “Isn’t this exciting? Until now we’ve been positioned between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, effectively in no-man’s land. We have beautiful, beautiful countryside here but it has been really difficult for us to get that message across,” he said.

Lewis said he did not feel traitorous by being so openly pleased that the hotel has been welcomed into the bosom of Lancashire’s rival county. “I’m rather pleased that we have got somebody who wants to embrace us.”

Lancashire county councillor Marcus Johnstone, cabinet member for environment and planning, said: “I’m proud to say that I’ll be Lancashire’s representative on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, so it could also be seen as the red rose county heading across their border as well.

“Ultimately this is about working together to protect and support some outstanding countryside, regardless of the county you’ll find it in. It’s wonderful that some special areas of Lancashire are now included in the national park.

“I’m looking forward to working closely with our colleagues to continue their excellent work in the national park. We’ll keep our long-running rivalry for things like the cricket.”

Despite the change in geography the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority said the government had no plans to change the park’s name, which was written on a designation order in 1954. In total, 188 sq miles, an area bigger than the Isle of Wight, were enveloped by the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks on Monday.

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The new Lake District includes an area from Birkbeck Fells Common to Whinfell Common to the east and an area from Helsington Barrows to Sizergh Fell, an area north of Sizergh Castle and part of the Lyth valley to the south – an extension of 27 sq miles.

The Yorkshire Dales has expanded by 161 sq miles to include parts of the Orton Fells, northern Howgill Fells, Wild Boar Fell and Mallerstang. The two national parks almost touch at the M6, and the whole of the Howgill Fells is protected.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, which campaigned for the move, was chuffed: “We are delighted that this long-unfinished business has at last been completed. The park borders were illogical, reflecting former local-authority boundaries which paid no attention to landscape and natural beauty.”

Helen Pidd is a Lancastrian