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Summary:
The strategy addresses a problem which does not exist, may destroy the
essential wild feel of the area, and misses an important opportunity to
improve economic conditions in Snowdonia.
The
Consultation draft bears all the hallmarks of a document produced by
producer orientated (as opposed to consumer orientated) organisations. In
other words there is an underlying unspoken assumption that the job of the
organisations concerned Is to somehow handle those visitors who insist
upon coming to the area rather than to seek to enhance the visitor
experience so that more visitors will come and produce economic benefits.
This
is a strategy for stagnation and eventual economic death.
If
the intention of this strategy is, as stated, to maximise visitor spend
and hence the economic gain to the area, then it is respectfully suggested
that advice should be sought from a first rate marketing organisation and
from those whose businesses depend upon visitor spend in Snowdonia.
Sadly,
there is little if any evidence of a professional marketing Input into the
-strategy document, the whole emphasis is on controlling visitors rather
than selling the area to them. As an example, the document laments the
"fact" that day visitors spend less money in Snowdonia than they
do in the Lake District (and this "fact" may be spurious but
there is insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion) without attempting
to examine why this is so. The simplest explanation is that no-one can
spend money whilst in a motor car. If you wish to derive economic benefit
from visitors then you have to provide many attractive places to park
their car so that they can get out of it to spend money. The writer used
to live in Beddgelert and is in no doubt that economically that village's
prosperity and employment is severely restricted by the paucity of
the car parking arrangements.
It
is a simple fact of life that to maximise customer spend it is vital to
make life as easy as possible for the customers. Supermarkets have large
car parks for which no charge is made and they have come to dominate the
retail sector. This is no accident. Little Chef are the UK's most
successful restaurant chain, every one of their outlets has a very
adequate and totally free car park. In the USA, almost all retail activity
is in 'Malls' and 'Plazas', both are groups of newly built shops with
large free car parks, In the UK, the fastest growing retail sector is the
big tin sheds with car parks on the outskirts of towns. The one village in
Snowdonia which derives major benefit from day visitors is Betws y Coed
and it is no co-incidence that this is the only one with car parking which
even begins to approach adequacy. Customers who come in cars spend pounds
whilst those who come on buses spend pennies. Regrettable, but one of the
hard facts of present day society.
Attempt
to move people out of their cars and they will simply go somewhere else
where they feel more welcome and comfortable. Enforcement
measures will of necessity be unwelcoming and oppressive. Experience during the foot and mouth epidemic is
relevant here, Even though the roads were open people simply stayed away.
Businesses in Llanberis lost 60% of their turnover. People were put on
short time or lost their jobs.
Nor
is there any need for this strategy. There is simply no traffic problem
nor is there likely to be one for the foreseeable future. The Consultation
Document is long on rhetoric but very short indeed on facts as regards
traffic flows and density and no evidence base on road congestion is
presented.
It
is stated that road traffic will grow by 15% to 30% with the implication
that this will result in increased congestion. But nothing plus 30% is
still nothing, and road traffic in Snowdonia is very light Indeed. The
writer was involved in the last private traffic census in the subject
area, an exercise carried out under the supervision of the UK's most
respected firm of traffic consultants. The highest rate of traffic flow
found, and it was very much a sharp peak, was 150 vehicles per hour each
way on a sunny Bank Holiday, but 100 vehicles per hour was the more usual
rate. The flow on the A55 at the same time was probably twenty times as
high in each lane, This census is in the public domain as part of the
Environmental Impact Assessment for the Welsh Highland Railway and was not
challenged during the five week Public Inquiry.
There
simply is no traffic problem in Snowdonia, even though mitigation of an alleged
one is the central
foundation and driver of the Green Key
Strategy.
There
is, however, a car parking problem which reaches major proportions in a
small number of places on a small number of days each year. It is arguable
that this parking problem is the result of the Snowdonia National Park
Authority neglecting its statutory duty to make it possible for everyone
to enjoy the special qualities of the Park by providing sufficient car
parking space to accommodate all the visitors who wish to come.
It
also seems that insufficient thought has been given to some aspects of the
proposed policy- There is, for example, no mention of wheelchair access
anywhere in the Consultation Document, At present there is wheelchair
access to the Miner's track from Pen y Pass but this seems likely to go
under the policy. Nor is there mention of the large amount of equipment
needed for some types of modern rock climbing, nor of the need to
transport, for example, canoes. None of these can be handled by buses, and
nor can any of this equipment be left unguarded in the open as it can be
left locked in or on a car or minibus. No consideration whatsoever has been given to
the inhabitants of Llanberis who go up to the Llanberis Pass after work on
summer evenings to enjoy 'bouldering' on the Cromlech Boulders and who
would be unlikley to be able to do this by public transport. They most
certainly would not be able, as they can at present, to go round to Tryfan
in the evenings after work.
A
further problem not addressed by the report is that of bus shelters. Pen y
Pass probably enjoys over 100" of rain each year and there can be
sudden rainfalls of up to three inches in 24 hours at Capel Curig.
Provision of a bus service without provision of bus shelters in these
conditions should be unthinkable but such has been the case in the past
and the document makes no mention of shelters. The proposed service is
clearly dangerously inadequate, with a severe risk of hypothermia for
soaked, already cold, children stood or sat stationary for half an hour or
more. Nor is it at all clear what provision will be made for walkers or
climbers, who are unexpectedly delayed and who arrive at the bus stops
after the last bus has left. If they ware returning to their own car there
would obviously be no problem but already there have been several
unfortunate incidents of people having to be rescued from the side of
major roads because there were no more buses and there were too many of
them in one family to hitch lifts.
More importantly, the
authoritarian tenor of the Consultation Document bodes ill for the
eventual Impact on the conservation of the National Park. The
essential characteristic
of Snowdonia is a feeling of wildness with its accompanying feeling of
freedom from restraint. Al fresco roadside car parking opportunities are an important part
of the characteristic atmosphere of the area making it especially
attractive, for example, to photographers who can easily stop to take
pictures without impeding traffic In most places. Taken in the round the
proposals will destroy this irreplaceable atmosphere and put in its place
a cross between a regimented theme park and a manicured city centre with
public gardens. The worst nightmare will have bean realised, not by
mindless vandals, but by well meaning people who have perhaps had their
judgment affected by ideology.
Prohibition
of roadside car parking can only be carried out by extensive signage and
road markings- Enforcement of this prohibition can only be by a
necessarily large force of police or wardens, inevitably in distinctive
uniforms and vehicles. Closure of the roadside laybys and casual parking
areas can only be by 'local authority' walling and fencing. The whole
character and feel of the area will be lost. One has only to recollect the
appalling treatment afforded to these areas during the foot and mouth
epidemic to realise the environmental damage brought about by unthinking
officialdom.
We
need to look elsewhere for solutions to the car parking and visitor spend
problem. Perhaps the USA National Parks offer the best solutions. Yosemite
has admitted peak period problems, with visitor numbers an order of
magnitude higher than Snowdonia almost all crammed into a valley little
larger than Dyffryn Peris. Even so, sensitive landscaping of the very
extensive car parks almost eliminates their impact and actual closure of
the roads is a rare event. Snowdonia does not have sufficient population
within easy driving distance to ever suffer such problems, which would
require traffic to increase, not by 30%, but to multiply by a factor of
ten or more. Nor does Mesa Verde, which benefits from relative isolation
and warmer winter conditions and is able to cope with higher visitor
numbers spread over a greater period of the year so that congestion is
uncommon and road closures never contemplated. The rim drives at Canon de
Chelly and Gunnison Black Canyon are other instances of sensitive and
adequate car parking arrangements, as is Whitney Portal. Other USA
National Parks, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Sequoia, also offer large and
uncrowded car parks which yet have little obvious environmental impact.
Closer to home, the Beddgelert forest caravan and camping site Is an
object lesson; many local people are totally unaware of its existence.
What can be done for a caravan site can surely be done for a car park,
given the will.
Here,
it is to be feared, is the crux of the problem with this Consultation
Document. There appears to be no real desire or will to encourage visitors
and to enhance the visitor experience. Instead, there is an unwholesome
emphasis on coercion and control which is all the more disturbing for
being unconscious.
Given
the will, there is an opportunity here to transform the Park for the
better and to make its Inhabitants more prosperous. Enhanced public
transport is to be welcomed, gently steering visitors towards existing
local businesses is wholly necessary, encouraging climbing and outdoor
pursuits is praiseworthy, spreading the Betws y Coed prosperity to other
villages by increasing overall visitor spend in Beddgelert, Capel Curig,
Llanberis and Bethesda Is to be wholly commended, However, adopting a
Canute like attitude to the realities of present day transport is
counterproductive and in the opinion of local business people will produce
financial disaster.
Can
the community afford to take a chance in attempting to solve a
non-existent problem by actions based on an unproven set of theories,
without practical trial and experience?
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