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I write in relation to the
Snowdonia Green Key Initiative and in particular in relation to the
proposed park and ride scheme and associated proposal to close car parks
within the ‘inner area’ and to "reduce opportunities for
unofficial and informal car parking".
I have been climbing
regularly on the mountains of Snowdonia for more than 30 years and I was
hill walking among them for some years before that. I now live on the edge
of the National Park. I climb and walk in the mountains at least twice a
week, three or four times per week in summer. I climb in all parts of
Britain and abroad but mostly I climb in Snowdonia. In other words, I am
one of the people that this is all about. I am one of those that you need
to marshal onto your buses and I am one of those without whom the local
shops and businesses will close. I have read your consultation document.
I have also attended one of
your consultation meetings and I have followed closely the reports of
others. It seems to me that by now the arguments have been well put. By
now (if you have been listening at all) you should be starting to
understand how outdoor people operate. You should realise the need for
pre-dawn starts in winter, and sometimes in summer as well. You will
probably have realised that sometimes people will return cold and
exhausted after night has fallen. You may have noted the desire to snatch
just a few hours in the hills, perhaps to trot up Snowdon or Tryfan after
a day at work. You may even have taken on board the need for flexibility,
deciding on a particular crag or mountain at the last minute as weather
conditions dictate. Unlikely as it may seem, you may have begun to wonder,
as I do, how your buses will cope with all of this.
You may have begun to
understand the lesson of Foot and Mouth; that without the climbers, the
walkers, the canoeists and the paragliders there will be no tourist income
"to spread more evenly throughout the district"; no
"economic opportunities for the young". You may have started to
realise that outdoor types are a mobile bunch with few allegiances. That
if you make it too awkward for them to carry out their activity in
Snowdonia they will go to the Lake District, the Peak District,
Pembrokeshire or the South West.
But not me! I’m too tied up in these
hills now. Whatever you do I’m just going to park. Because if you want
to deny me access to the mountains of Snowdonia then you are going to have
to put me in jail. Let’s you and I both hope that the jails are big
enough.
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