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Villagers furious over the National Park’s
proposal for a park and ride scheme.
OPPOSITION is growing to the controversial
park-and-ride plans for Snowdonia's beauty spots.
Furious traders and residents packed into
Betws-y-Coed Memorial Hall to air their views at one of the final
consultancy meetings for the Snowdonia National Park's Green Key, the
contentious programme the authority hopes to implement to promote more
public transport use.
And in contrast to a meeting in Llanrwst a fortnight
ago, where the audience was split on the issue, the Betws-y-Coed crowd
emphasised their opposition to the scheme to such an extent that calls for
the National Park itself to be disbanded were made.
An informal show of hands conducted at the meeting
last Wednesday showed the vast majority of those present was opposed to a
park-and-ride scheme being introduced in the area.
Among concerns raised were the impact of possible
parking charges on the amount of tourists visiting the area, the
possibility that cars using a park-and-ride system would take up the
parking spaces of visitors to Betws-y-Coed itself, and the inconvenience
caused to tourists by being compelled to travel by public transport.
Park officials acknowledged that responses previous
to the meeting had been negative.
Green Key management group chairman Peter Ogden told
the meeting that planning to the detriment of the area's tourist industry
was not the scheme's intention.
"We're not here to kill the goose that lays the
golden egg," he said.
"We will arrive at the plan that is fairly
acceptable to the majority before putting it forward," said Coun
Dafydd Iwan, who heads the strategy.
However, representatives from Betws-y-Coed noted
many weaknesses of the strategy.
"I believe we're going to lose car parking by
stealth," said Kevin Jones, of the Betws-y-Coed and District Tourism
Association. "People will vote with their feet; they'll go
elsewhere."
Concerns were also raised at the shortness
of time for consultation.
"It's very difficult to make any decision when
you receive the consultancy document which is over 30 pages long on the
day of the meeting," said Glenn Evans, proprietor of the Royal Oak
Hotel.
"I think the National Park is taking a massive
gamble; they're gambling with the entire community."
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Ogden confirmed the
National Park has extended the consultancy period by a month to March 4
and he urged community groups to join together to communicate issues
relating to Green Key.
"These are not measures that will be brought in
overnight, It's a question of building on what we've got, improving things
and increasing facilities, not knocking things down," he added.
What did those present think of the meeting and the plans
for the way ahead?
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'THE meeting was not particularly positive at
all, said Loel Collins, who works in the outdoor industry. "We've
not been given enough information about the plans.
"It fails to
consider all the aspects of recreation, tourism and leisure. The
closest I've seen to anything positive is that it was full of people
here. The National Park really needs to consider its relationship with
the public.
"People do not fully trust the park. I think if a separate
company had conducted the consultation it would have been done
better."
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THE meeting was completely negative, said mother
Zoe Glenn.
"I wanted to see the fuller picture.
"Although I'm opposed to it, I don't think the National Park was
given the chance to fully give its point of view.
"People have every right to be suspicious. This plan
is supposed to be for us. People have been refused permission for
their own developments for so long they're wondering how the park is
going to achieve this. The consultancy has definitely not been long
enough; we've only just been made aware of things that have been done
since August and a further four weeks won't make much
difference."
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THERE were about 300 people there and 299 were against it, said
Glyn Jones, of Judges store, Betws-y-Coed.,
"The vehicles will come here and they'll park and ride but
they'll be taking the space away from people who want to visit
Betws-y-Coed. It will generate money for the Snowdonia National
Park, not a penny will come to Betws.
"The park said it would create more parking spaces in Betws even
though it's forbidden people from creating spaces themselves for
years. There's many flaws in the plan. I cant see anything that will
be of benefit in it."
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TOTALLY against the park-and-ride proposal is
Pete Ward, who runs the Cirrus outdoor shop in Betws-y-Coed.
"There is a need for more parking in the local area but the park-
and-ride is not a solution. I feel the National Park didn't lay out
any information before us at the meeting.
"Things like taking a simple drive into the country of an evening
will become impossible. The majority of our clients come from the
south of England or the north-west. I think it's a real possibility
that they'll just carry on driving up the M6 towards the Lake
District. The park is holding several small carrots in front of us on
the condition we take the park-and-ride."
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