A MASTERPLAN is set to be developed in a bid to halt and reverse the exodus of younger people living in a national park.

Richmondshire District Council, alongside other bodies, will create an action plan to coordinate a variety of initiatives following predictions the working age population in its area of the Yorkshire Dales National Park will fall by 30 per cent between 2014 and 2035.

A meeting of the council’s corporate board next week is set to agree to developing a wide-ranging blueprint and to agree to work with partners across the Yorkshire Dales to tackle range of issues.

The four district and two county councils covering the park and national park authority have met numerous times in recent months to discuss practical measures, such as increasing house building, creating employment sites and improving cultural activities.

The Richmondshire authority’s leaders said while a plan to increase council tax for second home owners to help lower house prices had been rejected, it was clear overcoming the affordable housing issue in the park would not end the exodus of younger people alone.

The council’s leader, Councillor Yvonne Peacock, said suggestions that the authority was doing too little too late to address issues including poor access to higher paid employment, affordable housing and key services were defeatist.

She said tackling the decline was vital for the future of the economy and services such as schools in the park and the authority was prepared to invest some of its reserves, which had increased to more than £3m following efficiencies and savings.

She said attracting families to live in the park was a priority and possible ideas included launching a marketing campaign to highlight the benefits of living in the park.

Cllr Peacock said: “It has to be a package of initiatives. If it was a simple solution it would have been done already. We won’t have to spend an awful lot of money as we can do a lot with the resources we have already got.”