Recreation and Responsibility Seminar - Report

14 November 2008 at the International Pavilion, Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells

The main themes and concerns from both those presenting and those attending are outlined below.

• The emphasis of government on recreational use of the natural environment for the health and well being of the local population and as the basis of tourism was recognised and welcomed. In particular high quality semi-natural and farmed landscapes and  local heritage experience are important.
• The focus on environmental sustainability in both the activities and on management was understood and appreciated. It is evident though that the expenditure for both on-the-ground management and monitoring is very limited and these are rarely high priorities in funding schemes.
• Those charged with providing recreation recognise that they may well need to tailor their facilities and offer to encourage more people to take part. The point from John Watkins (CCW) on ‘If people aren’t using your facility in large numbers you need to ask what they would use’ was well made. As was the point that traditional fall-backs like – ‘there is no right of access for that activity here’ are no longer adequate. We need to be more imaginative and pro-active. To do this we may well need more flexible rights of way legislation.
• Despite the high profile of the many minority activities walking is clearly the main way in which people will get active in the countryside. Across the country participation rates for walking are usually several times the rates for other sports. Yet nationally Wales only has a relatively low percentage of public rights of way that are open, well maintained and pleasant to use.
• Comments throughout the day emphasised the difference between access and recreation and ‘enjoyment’.  If the user does not find enjoyment – he or she will not return and the only really significant gains in health and tourism are from frequent use, returns and recommendations. Good maintenance; surfaces, vegetation control, signage and confidence markers are fundamentals and a high quality environment is a valuable extra incentive for return visits. In particular the need to provide good well maintained facilities on people’s doorsteps was emphasised rather than transporting them to the “honeypots”.
• While well maintained facilities and paths are no guarantee that the people will come, poorly maintained ones make it more likely that they will not come back. The importance of this is not only to maintain local authority budgets – it is an essential pre-requisite for the achievement of government’s own objectives. Throughout the day there was an emphasis on the lack of resources in revenue budgets to carry out every-day maintenance tasks. If paths are not maintained then the investment in promotion and profile-raising will be no more than window dressing on an empty shop. Similarly if we do not have the network of paths to maintain, then a walking tourism policy is misleading and will damage our national reputation. We do need a good working path network and should recognise that any closed paths are indistinguishable on a walker’s map and will lead to frustration
• The level of erosion on mountain paths in Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons was striking. Here questions need to be asked about whether the capacity of the routes has been exceeded. The new pitching and surfacing work to repair erosion damage is impressive and will raise the carrying capacity of the paths so treated but unless the whole route is hardened, they may simply pass the problem on the next stage. Repairing damage is more expensive than preventative maintenance but reliance on European or Lottery funding and limited revenue favours the former. In Pembrokeshire the South West Tourism Partnership have said they will only support promotion and events that take place out of season. There may be a case to ask the promotion agencies in Snowdonia and Brecon to reduce promotion from certain sites and locations. Similarly the emphasis on mass-participation events on the mountains brings a risk of damage to the qualities of solitude and majesty that many traditional visitors come for. There is a danger that by encouraging a new market, the traditional visitors could be lost yet the authorities seem helpless to divert these apparently good causes to more sustainable routes and are left with the cost of damage and litter.
• The point was made in several sessions that there need to be better links between policy and promotion and on the ground management. Before a new activity is promoted nationally by, for example, Visit Wales, it would be helpful to have consideration with managers about the implications of any increased use. Before grants for new activities are provided by central or local government again the implications need consideration with those who have to manage the impacts. It is possible to find places where public funding creates issues which then have to be solved with further funding.
• When examples like this are given it is worth recalling that one of the recommendations of the review of Welsh National Park Authorities in 2004 was to consider what recreational activities are appropriate in National Parks. It may be that government could consider support for recreation on a hierarchy basis because some types of recreation meet more objectives and impose less management challenges than others. The table below from the Pembrokeshire National Park Management Plan illustrates this principle. A similar classification could be used to define which activities would be supported or promoted (In which locations) with public money.

Finally the theme throughout the day was about communication and management rather than enforcement. Examples such as the Pembrokeshire Outdoor Charter and the Snowdonia Mountain Bike agreement were quoted but while this was seen as the best way forward, there was a feeling that in places these agreements needed statutory back up if only to assure the majority of those abiding by them, that the few who did not would not be immune. Often the management authorities are in a very weak position with regard to managing activities as opposed to facilities. This makes it even more important that there is responsibility in promotion as well as in recreation.

The day seemed well received and the National Park Authorities are very open to more detailed conversations and sharing experience to better manage and provide for people in the countryside.