Behind the scenes on the Dambusters 70th Anniversary

A relatively recent part of the Peak District heritage is the connection with the famous ‘Dambusters’ raid on the German reservoirs by 617 Squadron in the height of World war 2.  Derwent dam in the Upper Derwent complex was one of the three UK dams that 617 Squadron practiced on, testing Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bomb.

The iconic Derwent dam attracts many visitors keen to explore the Dambusters heritage on ordinary days. More were expected on the big day

There have been events to commemorate this audacious military operation at the 50^th and 65^th anniversaries.  This week we helped the RAF celebrate the 70^th anniversary.  And it turned out to be a big occasion that required a lot of advanced planning.

Huge crowds were expected in the Upper Derwent and they didn’t disappoint!

The RAF came to see me early in the year and I organised a meeting involving Severn Trent Water (who own the reservoirs and with whom we work on the management of the Upper Derwent), the police, local authorities and our rangers.

Flight Lieutenant John Nichol and Lancaster veteran Jerry Ward

The RAF explained the significance of the events around this anniversary and explained that the main commemorative events would be in Lincolnshire.  This was partly to accommodate considerable media interest (Dan Snow and Chris Evans) but mainly because the last 2 survivors (Les Munro and Jonny Johnson) were now too frail to travel extensively on the days around the celebration.

Head of Field Services Andy Farmer, Chair of the Authority Tony Favell and the Leader and senior representatives of High Peak Borough Council

We talked through the practical issues of a significant public event in the Upper Derwent area.  It is a narrow valley with limited parking and the history of previous events was that the flypast would attract a lot of interest and visitors.  This had to be managed.

617 Squadron Veteran Cyril Gosling discusses the Merlin engine with representatives of Rolls Royce

A plan was then put in place led by Severn Trent Water with support from Derbyshire Police, Derbyshire County and High Peak Borough Councils, Mountain Rescue and the National Park rangers.  Contrary to some unworthy reports in the media, there was no attempt to stop the flyover and the plans to restrict access were only a sensible precaution to prevent mayhem and allow visitors safe access.  At no time were the RAF’s plans restricted.

The ‘City of Lincoln’ appearing at the end of Derwent Reservoir

On the day, I hosted  some local VIPs and people associated with the Dambusters, including Derbyshire’s Deputy Lord Lieutenant who works with the RAF, John Wilson, Battle of Britain Memoroial Flight veteran Jerry Ward, the leader of High Peak Borough Council and representatives of Rolls Royce (whose Merlin engines are such a big part of the Lancaster story).

The City of Lincoln at about 250 feet banks towards the Derwent dam

As I arrived in the Hope valley last Thursday it was clear that our plans for managing access would be put to the test. The roads were busy and got much busier as we approached the Derwent area.

The City of Lincoln in a steep bank

The first visitors to the valley had camped overnight and our rangers had been on site at 4.00 am when more people began to arrive.   All car parks and lay-bys in the valley were full by 10.00 and there was a huge amount of traffic in the Bamford and A57 areas.  Our careful and cautious approach had proved to be right.

Straightening up for the approach

Arriving at the dams, we met the Derbyshire British Legion, more veterans linked to 617 squadron and Vic Hallam who runs the excellent dambusters museum on the Derwent reservoir dam. The flyover was to be broadcast live on the 1.00 news and repeated endlessly in media outlets across the World.

Approaching the dam wall over the reservoir.

All newspapers covered the story and so the scale of the media operation was huge at the dams.  It was great to see the VIPs meeting the veterans and hearing all of their stories.  And it was good to see the many thousands of members of the public who had managed to get safe access to the area for an event that was special to them.

Getting closer, no bouncing bombs today

And on the dot just after 1.00 the first of several flypasts took place.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all of the national park rangers, the volunteer rangers and all of the other staff who helped on the day.  Andy Farmer(Acting Head of Field Services)  and Paul Wetton (ranger for the Derwent Valley) played a great leadership role, handling some tricky behind the scenes issues fantastically well.

Close up of the City of Lincoln just over our heads!

A wide range of other emergency and public bodies chipped in to help organise the event and ensure everyone who visited had a rewarding and safe experience.

The City of Lincoln banks over Ladybower, towards the Derwent Valley, Chatsworth and further public appearances that day

Where Splendid Things Gleam in the Dust

My 2008 guidebook to Egypt warns of shoulder-to-shoulder queues in the ancient temples and tombs, of overwhelming crowds at the pyramids of Giza and congestion on the Nile.  Egypt’s landscapes, heritage and a strategic location make it a historic favourite with travellers.  Gustave Flaubert described it as a place ‘where splendid things gleam in the dust ‘.  Successive post-independence Presidents invested wisely in audacious plans to restore great antiquities and build transport links to the Red Sea resorts.

The pyramids of Giza. For the largest pyramid, the 1st dynasty craftsmen used 3.6 million stones, the smallest of which weighed 3 tons

Last week we walked comfortably in the Valley of the Kings, with sparse crowds.  Luxor Temple was empty and nearby Karnak nearly so.  At Giza, the hustlers and camel drivers easily outnumbered the tourists from a handful of tour buses.  We were upgraded to a 5 star hotel in Aswan where we appeared to be among only a few dozen guests.  We watched from a near-deserted restaurant the traders in the souks at Luxor despondent at the scant pickings from a trickle of spending tourists.

Today, traditional Nile boats, or felucca’s, carry tourists. But they carried much of the stone to construct ancient temples and tombs

Successive bad news stories of accidents and terrorist attacks and the European recession have floored the Egyptian tourist economy.  Last week was the usual busy Easter holiday, when benign weather contrasts with the usual searing desert temperatures and makes Egypt a more accommodating place. This is when European and US families usually flock to the water sports of the Red Sea and the animated history lessons of the Nile valley.

Hieroglyphics at Kom Ombo Temple. Deceivingly, these are Graeco-Roman remains in the style of Ancient Egyptian

Global tourism grew by 3% to over 1 billion overnight stays last year and the World Tourism Organisation last week predicted similar growth this year in most regions.  But North Africa is the destination people are avoiding.  Last week, we saw the impact of this with empty hotels and tourist sites. In the immediate future it will be the cooks, cleaners, porters and boatmen who lose their livelihoods. If this famine of visitors continues, the investors in hotels, resorts and cruise ships too will suffer terrible losses.

Luxor temple. Stalled restoration work on the Avenue of Sphinxes can be seen in the foreground

The great concern must be with future of the Pharaonic remains whose scale, sophistication and antiquity comprise a vital part of our common world heritage. The upkeep of great artefacts requires painstaking conservation and restoration. Shepherding visitors into sensitive locations needs skilled staff and the infrastructure to sustain such visits without harming the very treasures people come to see.

I was impressed at the careful restoration of Karnak, the subtle interpretation in the Valley of the Kings and the great pride and knowledge of our guides.  But how will this be financed in future if the visitors do not come back?  The continued restoration of the ancient temples in Luxor has already stalled and the re-siting of the Egyptian Museum from Cairo to Giza is much delayed.   I hope that Egypt recovers and the intrinsic strength of its heritage and landscape will draw tourists and their spending in future.

Traditional rural life prevails in most of the Nile Valley

What would be the risks to our own heritage of a future reputation catastrophe?  UK heritage is increasingly dependent on earning its way in the world and at the moment it is doing a great job for the UK economy. Historic houses, world heritage sites, cathedrals, canals and countryside have become the core of successful businesses run by public bodies, charities, churches, communities and the landed estates.  Domestic and overseas visitors put a cash value on our heritage.  This is a good strategy as it frees managers of great national assets from the shackles of fickle public spending and creates recurring funds to pay for upkeep over the long term.  But it is not without its risks.

In 2001, ill-judged words ‘closed’ the countryside as foot and mouth disease spread nationwide.  We face an increase in exotic plant and animal diseases and climate change is likely to create more extreme weather.   Last year’s exceptional wet weather subdued rural tourism. Whilst we are generally a safe country, violent events do occur and accidents happen.  The decisions we make in response to these events and the way we communicate that response to the public and wider world are important in maintaining our reputation as a great place to visit.

Karnak Temple

Today, the UK ranks well in the World as a desirable destination.  The Olympics and the canny ‘GREAT’ Britain campaign have strengthened our position as a place people want to come to. In Beijing earlier this year, I saw the enthusiasm of young Chinese travel writers thirsty for information about the great outdoor activities and authentic rural life in our UK national parks. They already love our country houses, castles, Royal heritage and vibrant cities.   We have much to offer the world and the world wants to experience it first-hand.  The decisions we take as a country to present Britain to the world can build our reputation and make it resilient to events or we can harm it by ill-judged over-reaction to them.

The Village

Like much of the country, I’ll be glued to BBC One on Sunday night following the lives of the peope in ‘The Village’ the new epic drama series starring Maxine Peake and John Simm and written by Peter Moffat. This beautifully-filmed series charts the life and turbulent times of one English village across the whole of the 20th century http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/the-village.html

The Village Winster

I understand the BBC chose the Peak District because they wanted something ‘typical’ and not too specialised, so no mines or fishing ports. In return, they found this inspiring landscape and the charms of Hayfield, Charlesworth, Glossop,Chapel-en-le-Frith and Edale. The Peak District can lay claim to being home to some special and famous villages – the plague village of Eyam, the ducal village of Edensor and our favourite Baronet’s village of Tissington www.tissingtonhall.co.uk .

Edward and Vintage in Tissington Village, the UK’s favourite vintage sweet shop

But I think that our villages are also special because they are communities and ones that have sustainability at their heart. For the government, a small rural settlement is a village less than 10 000 people. We might more generally call those our market towns of Ashbourne, Matlock, Bakewell and Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Our villages vary in size from the small hamlets that pack a punch such as Sheldon with less than 100 residents to the larger villages like Hope, Grindleford, Hathersage and Youlgrave with closer to 1000. Our villages still mainly retain the services that make them viable, but this is getting more difficult.

Sheldon is a small Peak District Village which punches above its weight

The pressure is on small village schools with falling rolls and increasing costs. We have, so far, avoided significant school closures in Derbyshire, but the Staffordshire school of Flash closed last year and as budget cuts continue it will become difficult to keep all schools open.

Our village churches struggle, with high costs and dwindling congregations. Our rural clergy now typically have 4-10 parishes to contend with, which means a full-time job with the hatches, matches and dispatches before they can spend much in their communities.

The Old Cheese Shop, Hartington

I think some of the better news in our villages includes the resurgence in the village shops with some great examples of community-run shops in Litton and Winster, shops in pubs in Parwich and Birchover and some fantastic specialists and high quality shops such as the Hartington Village Stores, Ibbotsons of Ashford and the Watsons Farm Shop in Hope.

The Peak District is famous for its pubs and whilst we periodically lose a pub from a village, overall they are holding up well. Robinsons, the family-owned brewery are great at keeping pubs open and there are some really great and successful Peak District village pubs, such as my local the Old Bowling Green, the Bulls Head at Ashford and the Greyhound in Warslow.

The Geiorge at Alstonfield is one of the best-known Peak District pubs

Keeping a pub, paying your bills and staff and keeping the right relationship with your brewery or landlord is not an easy task. But the combination of a loyal local clientele and the many visitors we get is important in keeping our pubs open. Increasingly, key services such as broadband are becoming important to securing the livelihoods of villages. Even our smallest villages can be the home for many businesses.

On a recent visit to Sheldon (population 70) I found out there was a pub, a related motor business, several other businesses, 6 farms, 12 holiday and Bed and Breakfast accommodation providers and several ‘home workers’. In a larger village such as Bam ford, Hope, Tideswell or Winster there can be over 100 ‘commercial’ businesses, all increasingly relying on broadband.

Hathersage Pool, a community enterprise run by Hathersage Parish Council

The things that make our villages great success stories vary. Sometimes there is great civic leadership such as a good, solid and hard-working parish or town council. Sometimes they are estate villages such as Alport, Beeley, Pilsey or Edensor where the benign controlling force of the Estate Office sustains communities, economies and the character of the village together.

Some villages are fortunate and entrepreneurial such that they can generate income from visitors, such as the ‘Secret Gardens of Winster’, Tissington’s Well Dressings or the many shops serving visitors to Hartington. Some villages fizz with great numbers of activities. These can be youth activities, the many village pantomimes, film showings and amateur music or drama. Civic or community groups tend the village flowers, lawns, duck ponds and hedges.

Well-dressing is a unique Peak District tradition carried out in nearly 100 villages during the summer.

History and cultural groups document the ancient history of the villages and celebrate too the landscape as well as the built and human heritage. Some village entrepreneurs make a point of ‘putting something back’ by supporting the pub, shop, school or church. Some villages are just lucky to have a really cohesive feel. But many villages do not have all the facilities they need and they face change. Often, it is the planning system that deals with demands for new housing, community facilities, services or other developments.

When an old coal yard closes or a factory moves out or when an elderly farmer dies or a quarry ceases to operate there are opportunities for development. Carefully locating high quality development within an ancient village which is home to hundreds and the spiritual home of many more is always tricky. And that’s why planning is often controversia but check our web pages for easy-to-use information . http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/living-in

Hartington, location of a major development opportunity on the old creamery site and a village starting its own neighbourhood plan

I’m particularly pleased the national park authority has been able to do such a good job assisting many developers and villagers identify the best ways forward for sites. Moreover, I am particularly excited that several of our villages including Bakewell, Hartington and Chapel-en-le-Frith have been actively developing neighbourhood plans under the new Localism Act. Our professional officers are assisting the communities work out what sort of plan is best for the village. This is a welcome extension of the work we’ve done for years on village and community planning .

http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/living-in/community/neighbourhood-planning

Winster

As the BBC have so vividly represented, villages change over time and they will continue to do so. But I fervently hope that they will continue as great places for people to live throughout this Century as they were in the last. http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/microsites/npmp

If you’d like to make a tangible contribution to the conservation of heritage in one of the Peak District villages I know well, Winster, you can purchase this poster from the village shop or directly from me. All profits will be going to heritage conservation projects in Winster:

This poster celebrates the variety of doors in the special Conservation Area village of Winster

National Parks and the mysterious cycle of human events

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected.

Franklin D Roosevelt

It’s been budget week this week. Pretty grim reading for most people including the Chancellor, but there were a few highlights especially for beer-drinkers. It’s also been English Tourism Week and I’ve been pretty focused on some important work on tourism here in the Peak District and across the UK’s national parks. Also this week, The Times has been featuring the best places in the UK.

We live in difficult economic times and in such a time much is expected of everyone. I think this week’s news shows national parks are rising to the challenge of expectations too and we are playing a big part in the UK economy.

Of course, the traditional and still vital industries in the national parks are important. Food and farming, minerals and quarrying; forestry and water are all important. I periodically write about the mixed fortunes of these businesses. In the Peak District manufacturing, services and other businesses are important too. But what I’ve heard resounding from this week’s tourism and economic news and some big announcements for national parks is something else that’s important about national parks.

The sheer presence of a national park in an area and the range of things that you can do in these precious landscapes have a positive economic impact. The opportunities in the tourism industry and great outdoors events add enormously to the regional and national economic wealth of UK PLC. The English National Parks are working together to show this, but this week some big announcements told this story loud and clear. We started the week with the opening by the Duke of Devonshire on Saturday of the brilliant new Peak 5 gallery in our visitor centre in Bakewell. http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/news/current-news/new-gallery-shows-the-peak-district-through-the-camera-lens

Northumberland National Park Authority announced on Thursday it was starting work on a £10.5M super visitor facility at the Twice Brewed site near to Hadrian’s Wall. http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/parklive/news/news-pages/design-team-for-new-10.5million-landmark-landscape-discovery-centre-at-world-heritage-site-announced . The economic impact of this lottery and private-sector funded project will be huge in the short-term for the remote rural areas of Northumberland. In the longer term, this iconic centre will vie with the Snowdon Summit building as one of the ‘must-see’ centres in our national parks. A small national park authority packing a big economic punch.

At the other end of Hadrian’s Wall the news came on Thursday that the Lake District National Park will be the centrepiece of the Tour of Britain, helping add to this national park’s claim to be a great outdoors centre http://thetour.co.uk/news/345.php . The Tour of Britain will also be passing through Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Dartmoor National Parks between 15-22 September 2013. When the modern Tour of Britain was first started 10 years ago cycling was only just catching the popular imagination here. Today, the Tour of Britain is the home race for the World’s cycling superstars such as Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish. The 4 national park stages of this year’s tour will be great sport and add enormously to local and UK economies.

But the Tour of Britain in 2013 is a warm up for the big one. In July 2014 the World’s largest annual sporting event comes to 2 of our national parks as the Tour de France Grand Depart day 1 visits the Yorkshire Dales and day 2 features 19 miles of the Peak District . http://letour.yorkshire.com/

The Tour De France will be huge and it’s testament to the massive contribution to the UK economy that this week George Osborne sanctioned £10M to be spent planning the Tour in Yorkshire. Over 1 million spectators are expected to come from overseas and the economic value will be enormous to the UK and especially to the whole of the North of England. The travel journalists I met in Beijing in February were already excited about this globally important event.

I gave all of this good news to the Visit Peak District tourism conference on Thursday. This really was a first rate occasion. We heard about the fantastic GoPeaks billboard campaigns in our neighbouring cities and some fantastic news about massive improvements to the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site and a wonderful presentation from Trevor Osborne who has now started work restoring the Grade 1 listed Buxton Crescent. Derbyshire and the Peak District will have one of the most prestigious 5 star hotels in the World in a few years’ time. This was all so breathlessly exciting that we all hardly had the energy to share in the British Beer and Pub Association’s excitement about George Osborne’s budget support to pubs. We like our beer in national parks too.

But I had even more good news for the Peak District tourism economy. Firstly, I told our local tourism audience about the £12M being made available by the Department of Transport to invest in cycling infrastructure in national parks http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/news/current-news/welcome-12m-cash-boost-for-cycling-in-national-parks . This is a real commitment to creating even more fantastic cycling experiences, like our wonderful Monsal and Tissington Trails. Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin MP visited our trail last year and was impressed by the economic contribution and the jobs created. He said ‘this is just the sort of thing I want to see more of’. Patrick has put his money where his mouth is and we’ll be focusing on winning our share of this for the Peak District in the next few weeks.

And I had some more great cycling and tourism news and something that excites me greatly. We’ll be holding the first ever Peak District Cycling Festival 7-15 September 2013 http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/cycle/cycling-information/cyclingevents .

I also announced to the conference something exciting for 2014. Just a few weeks before the Tour de France, we shall be hosting L’Eroica UK. This is going to be something special. It’s described as ‘The most handsome cycle race in the World’ and its origins are in Tuscany. It’s about vintage bikes and costumes, great food and wine and a celebration of heritage and landscape. What Tuscany can do, so can its northern friend in the Peak District and we’re staging it here in 2014. This event is the most exquisite cycling event and it has sustainability at its core too. All credit to the local Sheffield Italian businessmen from Nonna’s and GustoCycling who have brought it here. This will add further to our reputation as a World-beating cycling tourism destination and showcase our great tourism offer to the World.To get a flavour of what’s to come, look at this video of L’Eroica Tuscany and be wowed: vimeo.com/31077041

And talking of the World, I spent a fantastic day on Wednesday talking through with the really buzzy and exciting people in Visit Britain – the UK’s tourism promotion agency – how we can work together to strengthen the place of the UK’s national parks in their work. Visit Britain already do a lot showcasing national parks, but we all agreed we can do more. Bringing overseas tourists to our remoter rural areas, helping them experience the authentic cultures, food and landscapes of our great national parks is a winner for the UK economy.

Throughout this week The Times has been listing the best places to live, visit, retire to etc in the UK. It is amazing how often national parks have been cited by The Times as a reason to live somewhere. Bakewell, Ashbourne and Buxton have featured so far and across the country a national park on your doorstep is considered good for quality of life. And whilst high house prices can be the result, good quality places to live help the economies of London and our great northern cities.

George Osborne has a lot of problems and I wouldn’t claim the Peak District or other national parks will solve all of the country’s woes. But on the performance of this remarkable week, we are certainly making our contribution to the success of UK PLC. And especially through the great announcements this week in English Tourism Week.

Launch of the Sheffield Moors Partnership

Sheffield is a City with a population bigger than Iceland and the Sheffield City Region’s population is greater than that of 8 US states.  And yet, said John Mothersole Sheffield City Council’s Chief Executive on Monday, it has a unique and close association with the moors on the Eastern side of the Peak District National Park.

John told us this was brought home to him when he moved as a family to Sheffield 15 years ago.  ‘One Sunday, we packed up the car for a drive to the country, complete with flask and sandwiches for the journey.  8 minutes later we arrived’. John was speaking at the launch of the Sheffield Moors Partnership, a highly successful and innovative partnership involving wildlife NGOs, the 4th largest city in the UK and the National Park.  You can read about the partnership here: www.sheffieldmoors.co.uk

John introduced our guests to celebrate the event, Defra Minister Richard Benyon MP who spoke about the 60 year tradition of innovation in ‘this great national park’ and Prof John Lawton who enthused everyone in what he claims to have been the 34th version of his speech advocating his keystone paper ‘Making Space for Nature’ details of which can be seen here:  http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/09/24/nature-news

So often on these occasions, one speaker captures the mood and in the Peak District it is interesting that it is often Henry Folkard, who on Monday was representing the British Mountaineering Council.  I am enormously grateful to Henry for agreeing to me reproducing the whole of his short but effective speech in full here.

Sheffield is a great city

Its greatness rests in its people, its industry, its landscape, its cultural heritage and its future.

The Sheffield Moors – the City’s Golden Frame – are integral to this heritage. They are embedded deeply in the psyche of its people. The Moors are where the people of the city can connect with the natural world, and find quiet enjoyment or physical challenge. The biodiversity and the landscape – I might say the health of the landscape – is elemental to the full enjoyment of recreation, and thus to the health of the people of the city.

It was the people of Sheffield who led the fight for access to open country for the nation (with a bit of help from some people from Manchester).

It was they who, through the Clarion Club, pioneered the cause of responsible and informed access, who stood shoulder to shoulder in the great access campaigns of the 1930s at Yellowslacks, at Burbage and Stanage, in Winnats and on Kinder and, with a little help from some people in Manchester, gave us back our birthright.

Bert Ward, Ethel Gallimore, Gerald Haythornethwaite, Alderman Graves, Sheffield Campaign for Access to the Moors and in our own time Terry Howard – the giants of this access movement – all Sheffield people.

It was because of them that we stand now, here at Longshaw, in open country cared for ‘for everyone for ever’ by the National Trust, and not in the council estate it might otherwise have become.

These moors give the city its lungs, its people room for outdoor recreation, its wildlife and flora their habitat, its landscape its defining features – and for many of its students their destination. And it is those same people, individually and through organisations like the BMC, Ramblers, Ride Sheffield, Sheffield Climbing Clubs and Conservation Volunteers, whose voluntary effort does much to care for the Moors. These same stakeholders may increasingly hold the key to their upkeep, and realisation of a sustainable future. A dynamic partnership with them must be prerequisite.

Over time the Sheffield Moors have known many changes. Their trees went to the furnaces, their soils were degraded by industrial pollutants, their vegetation was over grazed, their access became the preserve of the few, their hydrology was poisoned, their carbon released, their management tidied up into little parcels of land under separate ownership, their access routes fragmented.

Now, with the launch of this Masterplan, all aspects of the management of the Moors, and the economical delivery of the ecosystems services they provide, are given common purpose across man made boundaries.  We can conceive an inter-related landscape and environment for wildlife, wherein people and conservation are complementary. It is an approach which invests in the Moors, but does not take from them.

The Sheffield Moors Partnership poses questions that need to be addressed over time in managing the land and the landscape. It allows freedom for recreation to evolve as practitioners choose to make it evolve, responsibly and with respect for the wider context of all else that is valued in the Moors. It preserves essential freedoms.

For conservation there can be different approaches, like when and how to assist nature through farming practice or other intervention, when to let it re-wild itself. Best practice can evolve over time, as demands made upon the landscape also evolve. Short termism in conservation makes little sense. But one key to successful conservation will lie less in elitist concepts than in growing the knowledge and understanding of the special qualities of the Moors in those who love them, and in fostering this through a sense of common purpose.

The vision is about open spaces, a whole wide landscape and habitat, preserving a sense, within this City, of wilderness, free from man made intrusion, free from signs, free from fences, free from impediments to access.

Over 100 years ago, in the 1890s, these Moors took on a whole new local and international significance when here – at Burbage, at Stanage and across the City at Wharncliffe – J W Puttrell developed the sport of rock climbing. In 2013 the Sheffield Moors can again show the way through a new Masterplan which safeguards their pubic status and integrates the full range of activities they host with their management, their conservation and their place in the wider landscape, both now, and as our legacy to future generations.

Henry Folkard

 

Tales from the Orient 2: Mount Fuji

I wrote here a few weeks ago about my plans to visit China and Japan.  This is a short report on my visit to Japan.  My 9 days of travelling was worthwhile, fascinating and exhausting in equal measure.  I visited the capital city of the most populous country on Earth and the national park reputed to have even more visitors than the Peak District.

The origin of the trip was an invitation to attend an international symposium on the future management of the Mount Fuji National Park, so I will start by explaining this.  Mount Fuji is the iconic image of Japan and is a classic conical volcanic peak. It’s usually snow and ice covered and at 3776m it is the country’s highest mountain.  It’s a short bus ride from the massive megalopolis of Tokyo and is surrounded by the 5 Lakes of the ‘Fuji Lake District’.

With a quarter of Japan’s population, Tokyo’s 40 million puopulation is a short drive or ride from Mount Fuji

So, if you think the Chilterns crossed with the Lake District crossed with Mont Blanc, then you are getting closer to understanding the scale and complexity of Fuji as a national park.

Fuji.

Fuji is also a geologically active volcano and it was reassuring when I arrived with my hosts (the Yamanashi Institute of Environmental Sciences) that the current risk of an eruption was explained to me as being level 1, the lowest. At Level 5 it’s a good idea best not to be in Japan. My host and Director of the Institute, Professor Aramachi is a volcanologist by discipline and as we toured the Fuji area he explained to me that if the eruption were minor there would be advance warning and moderate impact. If it were major, then there would be little advance notice and the implications would be global.

Fuji is managed in a complex way that has some parallels with the administrative complexity of the Peak District.  There are two main prefectures (or local authorities), many private landowners (including the Shinto Monastery who own most of the upper parts of the mountain), lots of tourism authorities and the national park officers from the Ministry of the Environment.

 

Prof Aramachi and some of the participants in the symposium

 

Interestingly, the national park comprise two staff -  yes, for a national park with 100 000 000 visitors, claims on being a World Heritage Site and part of the Japanese network of treasured places, there is one ranger and one permit-issuing officer.  Every other visitor management and  administrative function is carried out by local authorities, private businesses or other state agencies.  The question is, does the ‘national park lite’ model work.  To be fair, in such a short visit over 3 days it would be difficult to draw firm conclusions.

Fuji is an iconic image

But my observations would be:

On the positive:

1. There is a lot of commitment to Mount Fuji, the promotion of the area and the provision of services and information to visitors and the ‘free’ market has delivered lots of this.  Local authorities, the tourism industry, local people and Japan as a nation seem genuinely proud of and fond of Fuji and everyone has a hand in the management of the area.

2. Some of the visitor information and interpretation is very good and I would be surprised if the average Japanese schoolchild didn’t
have a pretty good understanding of volcanology as a result.

Mount Fuji Visitor Centre

3. The brand of Mount Fuji is clear, simple and repeated endlessly.

On the negative:

1. There was very little sense to me in any of the towns, tourist spots or even the flagship visitor centre that you were in a national park.  This matter enormously in any protected area because if visitors and residents do not think they are in a place ‘reserved apart’ for special reasons they will do little to respect the special place.

2. Visitor Management is not very coherent, although there is a military-scale commercial machine which manages the huge numbers of walkers who get to the summit and base stations of Fuji during the 3 month climbing season.  The numbers who do this have increased in recent years to an eye-watering 300 000 annually who walk ten abreast in long snakey queues at pre-dawn to experience the sunrise. The impact of this appears to be scarcely managed.

3. The tourism economy seems to be uncertain where it is heading and there is obviously a serious problem in continuing to attract visitors.  This appears to be in part the Japanese economic malaise, in part the difficulties of attracting Chinese tourists at a time of some international tension and perhaps (dare I say) because the tourism offer feels dated and a little tacky.

Mount Fuji”s tourism imagery feels, to me, a little dated

4. My overwhelming memory of the Fuji National Park is the very poor standard of  built development and planning, particularly in the towns, tourist developments and lakeshores surrounding Fuji.  Other than a few set piece locations, in 3 days I was barely able to see Fuji unmolested by built development, poor and obtrusive signage, overhead wires and generally poor built design.

This building lies between Fuji and a key holiday village and shows the lack of thought put into locating such buildings

Frankly, the Fuji area is a textbook version of what goes wrong without good planning and was amongst the worst I’ve seen anywhere in the World, with bad and inconsistent built design, poor placing of buildings, ribbon development and inconsistent style, massing or material use.  Anyone who doubts the value of planning in a national park here in the UK would find a visit to Fuji instructive.

Poor control of advertisements ruins the Fuji area

The very poor standards of planning were a mystery to me. Japan in every other sense is a country with exquisite aesthetic sense, in its art, food and urban design, and it remains a very wealthy country with living standards comparable with Switzerland and Germany. With all that, and from what I saw in the design of urban and rural parts of the Fuji National Park  there is much that could be done to protect and enhance the character of the area with a long-term  approach to better quality land use planning.

Bad design, poor location, a clutter of signs and overhead wires – an iconic image ruined

Interestingly, the local partners are making a case for Mount Fuji to be designated World Heritage Site.  They failed before because they did not convince UNESCO that the geology of Fuji was sufficiently distinctive. Their case today is about the cultural associations of this great mountain and there are parallels with the case currently being made for the Lake District to be so designated.  I was left uncertain about the basis for this case (although I’m no expert on the UNESCO criteria).

A clutter of signs, wires and adverts all in a national park

Fuji is a fantastic place in terms of geology, landscape and as a place with potential for being a great, sustainable national park visitor attraction and natural resource.  But from my visit, I would be concerned for its future if there were not a commitment to a more coherent form of management and a plan that put quality of the built environment at the heart of the management of this otherwise naturally beautiful place.

I would like to thank my hosts Prof Aramachi and the Yamanashi Institute of Environmental Sciences for funding my travel costs.

Tales of the Orient 1

This is the first of a series of Blogs about my forthcoming visits to China and Japan.  This Blog explains why I’m visiting these countries and what I’m expecting to get out of the trip.  Later Blogs will explain more about the trips.

I’ve never been to either country before and I’m no expert on them either. I have welcomed visitors from both to the Peak District, including hosting the then Japanese Minister of the Environment and one of Japan’s leading politicians Yuriko Koike on her visit in September 2004.  At the time, the Minister was reviewing the Japanese National Parks and she broke off from some global negotiations to visit us.

The Minister had been aware of the Peak District because a young Japanese researcher Dr Yamaki of the Yamanashi Institute of Environmental Sciences had spent some time with us previously whilst at NottinghamUniversity.  Dr Yamaki has kept in touch with us over the years and several of our staff have visited his institute which is on the northern foot of Mount Fuji in one of Japan’s 29 National Park.

Anyone familiar with the Peak District is aware of the oft-repeated claim that we are the second most visited National Park in the World after Mount Fuji. It would be nice to think this is true, but we are not confident about the numbers who visit the Peak District.  As a result, I don’t like repeating the claim.  But Mount Fuji is a very short distance from Greater Tokyo, a metropolis with nearly 40 million people, and so it is a very popular place for the Japanese to visit.

I look forward to being one of those visitors when I visit Mount Fuji and the Yamanashi Institute to talk at an international symposium on National Parks in the first week of February.

Japan is an island which has a sometimes tense relationship with its continental neighbours.  Sounds familiar?  Many aspects of Japanese culture are very distinct to this complex nation of 134 million people.  Some are borrowed from its neighbours in China.  On my way to Japan I will be calling in to Beijing to meet the China Association of National Parks and Scenic Areas.

China is, of course, the most populous and fast-growing country on Earth.  It is going through an industrial revolution akin to the one we went through 150 years ago and which is having a similarly enormous impact on the people of China, its environment and the rest of the World.  The ripples of this change are felt firmly in the Peak District.  The price of lamb in Bakewell market, the cost of fuel at our petrol pumps and the market for rare minerals from the rocks beneath our landscape are influenced by the fast-growing Chinese economy.

In China itself, the scale of economic growth is having a huge impact on the environment and the management of natural resources is a growing concern.  The role of special areas set aside as national parks and protected areas will be a central part of the economic and environmental development of this huge and diverse country.

There are over 360 National Parks in China and I will be visiting the Beijing headquarters of the organisation charged with coordinating their work. This fascinating organisation, like many Chinese bodies, is emerging from a more closed political environment to a more open one and is seeking partnerships amongst national parks across the World.

We were very pleased that the China Association approached the UK Association of National Park Authorities last year with a view to signing a Memorandum of Understanding and after some discussion we signed.  I look forward to discussing how, in practice, we can take this forward on behalf of the UK Association.

Whilst I am in China and Japan I will be meeting Visit Britain, the agency charged with promoting tourism to the UK, to promote the attractions of the UK countryside.  The ‘GREAT’ campaign was launched around the Olympics and is geared at maximising heightened interest in attracting tourists to Britain and I’ll be meeting some of the key contacts and journalists who work with Visit Britain.

The UK’s National Parks are a good way of helping overseas visitors understand the attraction of the great UK countryside, whether that’s cycling in the Peak District, walking in the footsteps of William the Conqueror in the New Forest or paying homage to Beatrix Potter in the Lake District. Interestingly, Visit Britain’s research shows the Olympics has increased awareness favourably, but that the countryside is not (yet) seen as as attractive as our great cities and our heritage.

I am very aware that a visit like this might seem expensive at a time of great austerity in National Parks. My hosts in China and Japan will be paying all of my travel costs and so the visit will cost the Peak District and UK National Parks nothing at all other than some of my time. And I don’t expect this to change as we develop the work.