There are a number of key points that I wish to state based on my extensive business experience and love for Snowdonia.

Firstly, Snowdonia tourism is an important business that we all agree brings substantial and much needed revenue into the northern part of Wales. By definition, tourists are mobile and need to travel to arrive in Snowdonia. This basic mobility also enables them to readily travel to alternative areas if we fail to meet their expectations or deliver value-for-money.

By imposing a Park-and-ride scheme together with severely restricting car-parking in the main valleys, this will certainly deter many of the climbers and walkers who provide year-round revenues for the hotels, pubs, B+B, farm-houses, outdoor equipment shops, bike hire as well as many indirect businesses such as food outlets, gift shops, pay car parks etc. As a resident of the Conwy Valley for many years, I know the dependence many business have on the weekend walkers and climbers. Just think back to the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak to see the impact that only 3 months of highly restricted access had on our economy.

As an active year-round mountaineer, member of a local rescue team and photographer, I know the value of being able to rapidly change plans to suit prevailing weather conditions. Living in one of the wettest places in the UK, we are all familiar with needing to adapt our plans to the weather which often changes from valley to valley. How could I possibly decide the best area for a mountain day from a gateway car-park in Llanrwst ? I invariably decide en-route or even when parked in one of the valleys. The weather will also determine the equipment that I will take for the day in the mountains. This choice of equipment is made in the car before I leave the road. Again, how could I possibly make this critical decision about exactly what equipment was needed whilst in Llanrwst ?

These restrictions on route and equipment coupled with the additional time taken to reach the valleys due to bus schedules will certainly erode the visitor experience and will cause them to seriously assess if returning is worthwhile when there are many other more accessible locations within equivalent travel time as Snowdonia. This scheme could cunningly kill the tourist goose that could lay the golden egg. The first rule of business is that the Customer has real choice with freedom to spend, and unless you meet their expectations, they will spend their money elsewhere. Surely this proposed restrictive approach will not help Snowdonia but certainly will help the economy of the Lake District, our major tourist competitor.

To offer a constructive alternative, it is clear that Snowdonia does not have a real traffic problem, but in peak summer and certain winter weekends it does have parking problems in specific areas. Tackle this the way other national parks do and implement parking areas screened by trees that have variable rate pay-and-display. This enables higher volumes of visitors to be easily accommodated using land that farmers have already offered. This eliminates the need to run a major new bus system, assures access and gives tourists and climbers flexibility that is expected in the 21st century. Surely this will be a more effective way of working with tourism to strengthen our economy rather than threatening the industry through the proposed Green Key scheme.

Llanrwst.

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