A clip from the tenant farmer of Stanage North Lees on the Sunday morning of the August Bank Holiday weekend.
The abridged version of my rant is that the people making decisions on how to deal with the serious crisis of vehicle based visitation to the National Parks (and other Protected Landscapes) have simply not done their homework and are prioritising income generation over sustainable solutions.
They are extending car parks where on almost every day of the year there are spaces within the car park but people (that absolutely can afford the relatively low parking costs) don’t even enter the car park to peruse spaces – they verge park outside.
(Many of these vehicle owners are the very walkers, climbers, bikers and runners whose representative National
Bodies are yarping on about the impact of visitors on the landscape).
The car park expansions will only work if engagement and enforcement changes behaviours away from verge parking and blocking access for locals, farmers and emergency services. And there is hardly any enforcement and yet more engagement staff are leaving.
There is evidence to prove that parts of the Peak District landscape are five times over their capacity for vehicles – this problem is causing the wholescale degredation of the landscape and all that is being done about it is either making more capacity or painting lines on roads that shift the issue to neighbouring villages or valleys.
For the nth time – there is not one vehicle based visitation crisis in a National Park / Protected Landscape in Europe or North America that has been solved by increasing the capacity therein for vehicles. Not one.
We need to cease the performative, short term, income-generation-centric decision-making currently being done by the National Park and National Trust (and blindly supported by local MP’s) on the issue and deliver a joined up permanent sustainable solution.
And yes, that is the abridged version.
And no, i don’t ever seem to be invited to the meetings discussing the issue at which the aformentioned organisations / MP’s all violently agree in to their own echo chamber.
P.S. Hope you got access to the gate Nick ?