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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND THE HEATH PROJECT
During 2006/7 an integrated management plan for tourism was produced by Jemma Roberts, Senior Project Officer Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project (CoaST Project) as part of the Natural England HEATH Project. [i]
[The following information is taken from this article with my comments afterwards.]
Under Section 5 (West Penwith) the report notes that the District of Penwith “is one of the most important historic landscapes in Western Europe” that receives ¾ million staying visitors and over 2¾ day visits per year, with a tourism spend of about £230 million annually that supports over a third of all employment within Penwith. And that “The natural environment, coupled with it’s rich heritage and culture is what draws thousands of visitors every year”
The extensive mix of heathers and western gorse on the rough land of West Penwith ESA create “a distinctive landscape, and forms a valuable wildlife habitat”. However it is pointed out that these areas require active management to keep them in a favourable condition, mainly by grazing with cattle to prevent encroachment of bracken and the taller European gorse. Despite this need for management: “The open heaths of West Penwith provide good hunting for many birds of prey including buzzards, barn owls and sometimes rare species such as hen harrier and short eared owl. Stonechats are never far away, and skylark, meadow pipit and whitethroat are a feature of many. Specialties such as the grasshopper warbler and the nocturnal nightjar breed in low numbers. Butterflies include both pearl-bordered and dark green fritillaries as well as silverstudded blues. Plants create fine displays with thrift and spring and autumn squill along the coast and abundant lichen growth on rocks and trees are a real feature of the coastline thanks to the clean fresh air”.
As many as 77% of visitors to the area are “loyal, regular visitors to West Penwith” and about 80% choose the area because of the outstanding environment that attracts them for, amongst other activities, walking, surfing, climbing and the heritage sites. However “It is important to note that repeat visitors will notice any changes in the quality of the environment they are so attached to and will be quickly put off from visiting again if they see the environment deteriorating or becoming degraded”.
Under Section 5.3 Carn Galver – including Lanyon, Mulfra Common & Nine Maidens, it is emphasised that this “exposed and wild” area is one of Cornwall’s best walking locations, where there is a “general lack of modern artefacts, fencing or taller vegetation”. This landscape is viewed by visitors as a whole as they set out to see the prehistoric sites: Nine Maidens Stone Circle, Men-an-Tol, Lanyon Quoit, Men Scryfa and Bodrifty Iron Age Settlement.
Carn Galver has “rare and local mosses and liverworms as well as interesting assemblages of lichens which can often be more sensitive to visitor pressures”. The idea of widening paths to allow more visitors to this area was opposed as detracting from the sense of barrenness and “wilderness” (key reasons for visiting in the first place). One visitor met on site declared that this was “one of the few places left in Cornwall to really get away from the crowds”, while another highlighted the sense of “isolation” as the most appealing feature of the area.
COMMENTS
In the light of recent pronouncements by Natural England that there is no such thing as a natural unspoilt or undisturbed wilderness landscape (The Cornishman 18/9/2008) letter Jenna Palmer) it beggars belief that this report writes that it is the natural environment that attracts so many visitors, as well as the “exposed and wild general lack of modern artefacts, fencing or taller vegetation”. Yet the HEATH Project intends to ruin this ‘lack’. It is the present perceived untouched nature of these open spaces that brings so many locals and visitors to the area, not how it might have looked like decades or centuries ago.
The same letter accurately notes that the present encroachment of bracken and gorse is a very slow process – I have not noticed any appreciable difference in 40 years of walking these moors – yet Jemma Roberts states that this environment, that still somehow manages to provide a “valuable wildlife habitat” and rare plant life will, if not ‘managed’ by grazing cattle, deter the many regular loyal visitors to Penwith once they become aware of negative changes in the quality of the landscape: they must have a very good memory or a comprehensive decade-old photographic archive.
The sustainable tourism survey points out that excessive visitor pressure should be discouraged since this can detract from the sense of barrenness and “wilderness” and might harm rare plants. Yet cattle are to be grazed in these areas – presumably they will have the intelligence to avoid trampling and rubbing on these plants and lichens.
In Jemma Roberts’ survey on sustainable tourism for the HEATH Project she notes that: “Surveys and interviews were carried out with local people and visitors across the county and the findings have been collated and analysed to draw out the key responses and themes” [page.3] and that “Consultation has taken place in several stages with a variety of stakeholders; businesses enterprises, tourism providers, visitors, local communities, agency representatives and site managers. Consultations took the form of workshops, surveys, questionnaires and interviews. [P.16]
I have run a studio business here since 1980 selling pictures of the local landscape; during my 25 years of being open to the public I had thousands of visitors from all over Britain and the world who expressed their appreciation of the feeling of freedom and wilderness on the moorland with its numerous ancient sites. My business is the closest non-farming business to the moors and a place where people park their cars to walk there, yet I have never been consulted about the HEATH Project and neither has the proprietor of the nearby Tea Rooms at Lanyon Farm.
Natural England has proceeded with the implementation of the HEATH Project under a cloak of secrecy and have completely failed to inform or consult with local residents. All things considered it appears that Natural England has no idea of how to carry out the HEATH Project and their reports and suggestions are littered with contradictions.