Restoring nature in the UK’s national parks is being held back because nearly 90% of their land remains in the hands of private owners, campaigners say.

The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) has called for the authorities overseeing the protected landscapes to be given more powers to buy up private land under what they call a ‘People’s Charter’ so they can do more to boost biodiversity.

New research estimates that just under 595,000 acres of 5.7m acres of land covered by Britain’s 15 national parks is in public ownership.