BRIDGWATER and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has announced he will ‘do whatever it takes’ to stop Somerset’s Quantock Hills becoming part of Exmoor National Park.

The Tory MP says it would be a disaster for the area - and far from delivering benefits to local people would merely inflict another, stifling tier of local government bureaucracy on them.

According to Mr Liddell-Grainger, National Park officials have suggested Exmoor’s current 265 square miles could be enlarged eastwards - to include the Quantocks.

But the chief executive of Exmoor National Park said no boundary change or merger has been voiced during discussions on the future of the area.

The hills, which run from the Somerset Levels to the Bristol Channel, were originally scheduled to become part of Exmoor when the national park was set up 70 years ago.

But local farmers and landowners fought the proposals and won, the hills being subsequently accorded Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) status.

Now, with the running of all national parks being officially reviewed, Exmoor officials have suggested reverting to the original boundary proposal.

But Mr Liddell-Grainger, whose Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency includes the Quantocks and most of Exmoor, says he has a message for them.

“I can tell them people living on the Quantocks are as happy about the idea as the Czechs were when the Germans marched in in 1939,” he said.

“And I will do whatever it takes to stop the Quantocks being annexed.

“At the moment it is an area of thriving local communities and enterprising farmers and rural businessmen. And they have no desire to become part of the disaster that Exmoor has been turned into after years of mismanagement.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said restrictive planning policies which had stifled economic development had turned Exmoor into nothing more than a gigantic theme park and meant many could not afford to stay in the area due to a lack of housing development.

“Successive national park administrations have effectively wrapped the place in cling film so that now when you cross the park boundary you have to put your watch back 50 years,” he said.

“Visitor numbers to Exmoor have dropped steadily because the management doesn’t like visitors and farms have struggled to adapt and modernise in the face of onerous planning restrictions and the nakedly negative attitudes of planning officers.

“And, most tragically, scores of young families have been driven off the moor because the park authority has failed either to encourage employment or to provide suitable housing to replace the hundreds of properties that have been snapped up by outsiders for second homes.”

Sarah Bryan, chief executive of Exmoor National Park Authority, said the review is welcome to ensure a bright future for the land.

She added: “We welcome the review and look forward to working with Julian Glover and the review panel to help ensure a vibrant future for Exmoor. The authority has not discussed boundary change or merger with the Quantocks, or any other AONB.

“We are proud of our thriving tourism industry, which last year added £125 million to the local economy, a real-time increase of 16 per cent since 2009.

“But we know this can’t be sustained without doing more to make sure local people can afford to live and work on Exmoor, which is why our planning policies put such high priority on affordable homes.

“We were pleased to be able to brief Mr Glover on these issues when he visited in July and look forward to seeing the outcome of the review in summer 2019.”