Environment Audit CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Campaign for National Parks

Executive Summary

National Parks contribute significantly to the well-being of the nation, by providing safe, attractive, healthy places for active travel and recreation. The Campaign for National Parks is keen to see improved access to, from and within National Parks, to allow everybody to take advantage of these benefits. However, currently a lack of public transport prevents many people from visiting these key national assets.

We believe that Government policy should pay more attention to ensuring that National Parks are accessible by public transport as they are a valuable public service which should be available for everyone to enjoy.

Improved public transport access to National Parks would provide many benefits including:

For individuals—by contributing to improved physical and mental health through opportunities for engaging with nature.

For local economies—there is evidence that visitors by public transport spend more than those arriving by car.

For the environment—by reducing the number of people who travel to National Parks by car.

Transport difficulties impact on both residents and visitors of National Parks in a variety of ways. In particular, there is a lack of services on Sundays and public holidays, despite these being the most popular days for visiting. Where public transport is available, it is often infrequent or finishes early limiting the opportunities for access. The high cost of bus fares can also act as a deterrent.

There are some positive examples of transport initiatives that improve access to National Parks including DalesBus in the Yorkshire Dales and Breeze up to the Downs in the South Downs. We want to see continued revenue support for these services and increased pump-priming support to allow other similar services to be developed and enhanced in other National Parks. In many cases, a relatively small amount of money could make a significant difference. To ensure that this happens we would like to see the following action from Government:

Recognition that National Parks are a key national service offering multiple benefits to individuals and the country and that, therefore, access to National Parks should be considered just as important as access to other services such as learning, healthcare and leisure which are already prioritised in Government policy.

Commitment to using any under-spend from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund to provide increased funding to National Park Authorities (NPAs) specifically for revenue support for bus services in National Parks. Providing the funding to NPAs rather than local highway authorities would ensure that services were designed with the needs of both residents and visitors in mind.

1. Introduction

1.1 The Campaign for National Parks is the independent national voice for the 13 National Parks in England and Wales. Our mission is to inspire everyone to enjoy and look after National Parks—the nation’s green treasures.

1.2 National Parks are our finest landscapes with the highest level of protection. Their statutory purposes are to conserve and enhance wildlife, cultural heritage and natural beauty, and to promote opportunities for public enjoyment and understanding of their special qualities. For over 75 years the Campaign for National Parks has been working to ensure that our National Parks are beautiful, inspirational places that are relevant, valued and protected for all.

1.3 National Parks contribute significantly to the well-being of the nation, by providing safe, attractive, healthy places for active travel and recreation. They also play a vital role in sustainable development through protection of the landscape, wildlife and key environmental resources and services, like water provision and carbon storage in peat soils and forests, which can mitigate the effects of climate change. As well as being inspiring places for people to enjoy and improve their health and well-being, National Parks make a significant contribution to the economy through tourism, farming, and other related businesses.

1.4 We are keen to see improved access to, from and within National Parks. At present, many of those who might benefit the most from the health and well-being opportunities provided by National Parks are excluded from them, due to key barriers such as a lack of affordable and available transport. We therefore believe that Government transport policy should pay more attention to ensuring that these key national assets are easily accessible by public transport. Such improvements would not only benefit those wishing to visit National Parks but would improve accessibility to other key services for residents of National Parks and enhance local economic development. They would also have environmental benefits by providing an alternative means of transport for those residents and visitors who do own cars.

1.5 The Campaign for National Parks manages the Mosaic engagement programme which has successfully recruited and trained hundreds of volunteer community champions to introduce thousands of people from urban areas to the physical and mental health benefits of National Parks over the last 10 years. We have targeted people from disadvantaged communities which are under-represented in National Parks. Our evidence has been compiled in consultation with the Mosaic community champions who have first hand experience of the difficulties of accessing National Parks without a car and of the benefits of introducing new visitors to the Parks. We have also consulted with representatives of the National Park Societies and National Park Authorities, and are particularly grateful for the information provided by Colin Speakman, Chairman of the Yorkshire Dales Society, in helping us prepare this submission.

1.6 Our evidence begins by setting out in more detail why access to National Parks matters, it then provides some evidence on how transport difficulties impact on both residents and visitors of National Parks. Finally, it sets out some of the positive examples of transport initiatives that are transforming access to National Parks and makes some recommendations for Government action which would help to support and encourage similar initiatives.

2. Why Access to National Parks Matters

2.1 The main focus of the inquiry is on the accessibility to key local services such as jobs, learning, healthcare, food shopping and leisure. This is understandable given that this is the focus of the Social Exclusion Unit’s Making the Connections report which this inquiry is following up. However, whilst access to all these services is important, there is another public service which we believe needs to be given greater attention in the Government’s transport policy and that is National Parks.

2.2 National Parks are the finest landscapes which have been granted the highest level of protection. The statutory purposes of National Parks are:

To conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Parks.

To promote opportunities for the public understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the National Parks.

2.3 National Parks receive funding from taxpayers in recognition of their special qualities. They are national assets, providing natural resources such as clean water and provide places of peace and tranquillity in a crowded island. They are therefore a critical public service and should be available for everyone to enjoy and to benefit from what they have to offer, not only in terms of leisure opportunities, tourism and a sense of place, but also their contribution to health, well-being and spiritual inspiration.

2.4 There is increasing recognition of the physical and mental health benefits that the landscape and outdoor recreation provides, for example, a recent publication from the National Trust1 highlights the profound impacts that nature deficit disorder has on children’s health, especially with regard to obesity caused in part by a significant reduction in time spent playing outdoors. National Parks play a key role in making the benefits of engaging with nature available to people who might not easily to able to access them, for example, though the CNP Mosaic project and other initiatives such as “walking for health”.

2.5 Natural England has also published a literature review2 which found widespread recognition that experience of the outdoors and wilderness or wild spaces has the potential to confer a multitude of benefits on young people’s physical development, emotional and mental health and wellbeing and societal development. In many parts of the UK, the only truly wild spaces left are in National Parks.

2.6 The Mosaic community champions cite examples of mental health benefits for people at the opposite end of the age range, for example, older people report feeling more relaxed and happier as a result of visits to National Parks. There are also some who have been introduced to walking on visits to National Parks and as a result have started walking more for local journeys in their own communities. This has obvious benefits in terms of health and social inclusion.

2.7 Increasing the opportunities for visitors to reach National Parks is also good for the local economy in areas which rely significantly on tourism for their economic well-being. There is evidence3 that visitors by public transport tend to spend more money in tourist areas than visitors by car. They are more likely to spend money on food and drink locally and are more likely to pay for tourist attractions. It has been estimated that passengers on DalesBus Sunday and Bank Holiday services brought £187,000 worth of visitor spending to the Yorkshire Dales National Park.4 So, there are strong economic development arguments for investing in improved public transport for National Parks.

2.8 Finally, as the Committee will be aware, there are significant environmental benefits to providing improved public transport particularly where appropriate marketing is used to promote the service to car users. There is a huge reliance on the private car by visitors to National Parks, for example over 85% of journeys to the Peak District National Park are made by car and around 93% of visitors to the Lake District arrive by car.

3. How Transport Currently Limits People’s Access to National Parks

3.1 Recent cuts in public funding have seen local transport authorities having to make very difficult decisions about which bus services to support. In general, the needs of residents tends to take priority over those of visitors which often means that services for those wishing to travel into National Parks from surrounding urban areas are given low priority. Week-end services are usually particularly badly affected by such decisions with public transport access in National Parks often at its most limited on Sundays and public holidays despite evidence to show that this is the most popular day for visiting.5

3.2 Even where public transport is available on a particular route, it may not be sufficiently frequent or run late enough for people to feel confident about relying on it for a day trip in case they get stranded. For example, one of the Mosaic community champions cites the limited options for travelling between Sheffield and the Derwent Valley in the Peak District (a 30 minute journey) where there is a popular visitor centre. This acts as a deterrent to taking groups into the National Park even though it is on the city’s doorstep and readily accessible for those with cars.

3.3 A further significant deterrent is the high cost of bus fares. For example, one community champion quotes a cost of £6.80 return for an adult and £4.50 for a child for a 14 minute journey from Bakewell to Taddington. Some operators do offer good discounts for off-peak group travel or day tickets such as the Peak Wayfarer or DalesBus Rover which can significantly reduce the costs of travel. However, unfortunately, such tickets are not available in all National Parks and it is often very difficult to find out information about the cheapest options or any group discounts that may be available. Community champions report being given incorrect information on telephone information lines and having to bring a print-out of the relevant section of an operators’ website to prove the availability of a particular group discount ticket to a bus driver.

3.4 The limited public transport options available means that many well-known attractions in National Parks are only available for those with private transport. Recent cutbacks mean that even in relatively accessible National Parks, many popular visitor destinations are no longer served by public transport. For example, in the Peak District, key destinations affected by the most recent cuts in public transport services include the some of the caverns at Castletleton and Stanage Edge—a world class climbing destination.

3.5 The Natural England study cited above6 also identified the cost and availability of transport as a barrier to young people accessing and enjoying wild adventure space.

4. Examples of Improved Access to National Parks

4.1 Where time and effort has been invested to improve access to National Parks, the benefits are plain to see. The Yorkshire Dales Society set up a subsidiary Community Interest Company to run the DalesBus7 which has proved that there is a huge potential demand for a truly integrated, well promoted National Park public transport network. There has been a growth of over 200% in passenger numbers using the network in a little over five years. Many of these passengers are visitors from surrounding urban areas, such as Bradford and Leeds, who could not reach the National Park otherwise but the service also provides a vital public transport for residents, particularly the significant rural minority without private transport.

4.2 In the South Downs, a successful partnership between Brighton and Hove City Council, the National Trust and the South Downs National Park Authority supports a network of three bus services linking Brighton with some of the most popular destinations in the National Park. The full Breeze up to the Downs8 network runs on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays over the summer and some services run over the winter too. Breeze was highly commended for “The Bus in the Countryside” Award in 2009. The citation for the award describes it as the most popular of all leisure bus networks in Britain, carrying the greatest number of people and compared to similar leisure services, Breeze attracts a younger age profile, higher numbers identifying as Black and Minority Ethnic Groups, a higher proportion of women and a higher proportion of people accompanied by children.

4.3 There are a number of other examples of highly successful transport services in National Parks such as MoorsBus, the Snowdon Sherpa, Dartmoor Sunday Rover, the Pembrokeshire Puffin, and Peak Wayfarer. However, unfortunately many of these have suffered savage cuts in recent years, often to save relatively modest amounts of money. There is a real risk that there will be further similar cuts in coming years meaning the future of most of these services is currently very insecure.

5. Recommendations for Government

5.1 As we have set out in our evidence above, there are many good reasons for improving public transport access to, from and within National Parks, such as:

Supporting local economic development in rural areas that rely on tourism.

Securing a sustainable future for rural communities.

Providing people from urban communities with access to the country’s finest landscapes.

Improving health and well-being, especially for the young.

5.2 There are already some existing examples of the kinds of initiative that make a huge difference to those who are able to benefit from them. We want to see continued support for these kinds of services and increased support to allow other similar services to be developed and enhanced in all of England’s National Parks.

5.3 In many cases, a relatively small amount of money could make a significant difference—Colin Speakman, who was responsible for setting up DalesBus, estimates that a figure of £100,000 per National Park9 would be sufficient to allow tens of thousands more people to enjoy National Parks whilst reducing the environmental benefits of these increased number of visits.

5.4 To ensure that this happens we would like to see the following action from Government:

Recognition that National Parks are a key national service offering multiple benefits to individuals and the country and that, therefore, access to National Parks should be considered just as important as access to other services such as learning, healthcare and leisure which are already prioritised in Government policy.

Commitment to using any under-spend from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund to provide increased funding to National Park Authorities (NPAs) specifically for revenue support for bus services in National Parks. Providing the funding to NPAs rather than local highway authorities would ensure that services were designed with the needs of both residents and visitors in mind.

6 September 2012