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I write as a member of both
a local climbing club in Shropshire, and as an individual member of the
British Mountaineering Council, to make my representations about the
proposed traffic management scheme of the Snowdonia Green Key system.
Let me state quite clearly
and categorically that I am firmly opposed to most (but not all) of the
ideas in the plans.
From the point of view of
an individual climber and hillwalker, I will summarise my areas of concern.
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You
will have already seen, heard and read many objections to the proposed
closure of the extensive roadside parking places in Ogwen, Llanberis
Pass, the Nant Gwynant and so on. Given the way that walkers and
climbers operate, much of the proposed scheme would make these
traditions more or less unworkable. (I am talking about practices such
as early morning starts; carrying equipment for a specific route or type
of climbing, then choosing to change the plan at the last moment when
conditions on the hill dictate; keeping a dry change of clothing in the
car; having the car available as a shelter if the weather forces an
early descent, or as a rescue vehicle in case of an accident). I will
not dwell on the details of these, but must echo them. The submission
from the manager of Joe Brown’s shop in Llanberis is particularly well
argued and reasoned, and you would do well to heed his comments. (See
Observation 9)
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The
draconian proposals will make the Snowdonia area a far less attractive
place to visit for a large number of the regular mountain-activity
participants. To be reliant upon a bus-service that at best is running
half-hourly through the main routes of the National Park, and may be
subject to all sorts of unpredictable delays and possibly service cuts,
will leave most people feeling disenchanted with the ethos of the area.
The National Parks were set up to be accessible to all, without undue
restriction. If you require visitors to leave their personal, flexible,
convenient and relatively cheap transport at the boundaries of the area
they’ve come to visit/walk in/cycle in/canoe in or whatever, they will
simply stay away.
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Should
they stay away, the lifeblood of the economy for many hotels, guest
houses, hostels, self-catering establishments,
climbing club huts and so on will simply dry up. I would not wish
that upon anyone in the rural economy, especially after the ravages of
FMD last year.
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Furthermore,
the opportunities for continuing business for a number of
outdoor-related training centres (including but not exclusively Plas Y
Brenin) will be badly affected. They rely upon being able to park their
transport in and around the core area whilst undertaking their
activities. Is it reasonable to expect that they would have to rely upon
the bus service for the transportation of relatively large groups of
students, maybe 12 or 15?
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I
believe that the economy of a number of settlements within the Park area
will be devastated. If visitors are required to leave their cars at the
gateways and are then bused through to their destinations, they will be
unable or unwilling to stop at places such as Capel Curig, Rhyd Ddu or
Beddgelert. They will not want to wait the extra half an hour for the
next bus, with the attendant risk of it being full, forcing another 30
minute wait. Would you want to be running a cafe in Capel?
A large proportion of your
plans is, frankly, flawed. To the visiting climber, walker, canoeist,
cyclist, paraglider or whatever, they are going to represent an intolerable
restriction on their freedom. These people will abandon Snowdonia. They will
not spend money in the pubs, shops, campsites, youth hostels, outdoor
training establishments, indoor climbing walls and so on.
At the end of the day, your
proposals seem to be based on a view that there is visual and atmospheric
pollution of the area caused by the number of car-borne visitors. There may
be some truth in this, but that is the way of the world in this day and age.
If you are genuinely concerned to reduce the number of cars overall, then
the concept (if not the detail) of this plan should be extended well beyond
the bounds of the Core Area and the Gateways, to look at the negative impact
of car-borne visitors coming from much further afield. After all, neither
Llanberis nor Bethesda have any access by public railway, so your visitors
will still have to drive to get to these.
In terms of visual effect,
for most passing visitors, a few cars parked on the roadside at Ogwen
Cottage, below Tryfan or by the Cromlech Boulders are a minor matter. For
the walkers and climbers they are the only practical means of transport in
the area that these people value most. In terms of atmospheric pollution and
air quality, most of these cars will have come from at least 100 miles away,
especially if they are weekend visitors. The additional effect of them being
driven into and out of the core area, compared to the overall mileage
covered, is frankly negligible.
However,
I would like to add that I am generally in favour of any plans to develop
the number and quality of off-road cycling routes, provided they are not
solely sanitised strips of grey macadam stretching down the side of the
existing carriageways. The National Cycle Network through Snowdonia is
developing well, but could undoubtedly benefit from further enhancement to
join one piece to another, enabling circular routes to be devised. However,
alongside the development of the National Cycle Network, there are many
people who take to the hills on their mountain bikes, and who do not want to
make much use of manufactured
cycleways that are laid out and graded - they will only want to use existing
stretches of quiet road, to enable them to access remote upland passes and
bridleways, to use the mountain bike for its designed purpose. I would ask
you please to put some thought to increasing and extending the rights of way
network through the hills. The Lake District has an extensive set of
historical bridleways - Snowdonia could well look at developing a similar
network of genuine off-road routes for cyclists and horses. That really
would be forward-thinking. Equally, as you acknowledge in the Consultation
Draft, there is a growing
development by Forest Enterprise and other forestry owners, to create
complex and technical stretches of challenging riding in the woods. I cite
existing places such as Coed Y Brenin and the Gwydyr forests of Betws Y Coed.
There is scope for works of this nature in and around Beddgelert, for
instance. You would help the economies of nearby towns by easing vehicular
access to these sorts of places, rather than restricting it.
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