How can we reach out?
Overcoming the barriers to participation
Synthesis of the five main points made by the workshop groups:
1. Resources are a barrier to participation because there is insufficient funding to reach out on an effective scale. This could be overcome by:
- Working together to share best practice;
- Delivering on key national priorities such as health and education agendas; and
- Researching the benefits for the state from the parks, and making the case for more funding – if in line with strategic aims (see point 3, below).
2. Transport is a barrier to participation because of its lack, cost, accessibility, timing and poor image. The lack of transport is a problem for many including locals, mothers, young people, older people, widows, and the elderly. This could be overcome by:
- Working with partners to increase provision (transport partnerships); and
- Making public transport part of the experience.
3. The national parks’ own attitudes are a barrier to participation because there is a lack of clarity about remit and duty to encourage different types of visitors; about what effective participation is (participation can be in spirit - do you need to visit to engage - or do you only value somewhere if you experience it?) and whether it is desirable (carrying capacity, not all people want to visit). Also, parks face differing situations in terms of nearest urban populations. This could be overcome by:
- Working together to clarify the purpose and parameters of engagement;
- Defining what successful participation would look like in line with protected area aims and agendas;
- Setting goals and formulating a national policy based on research and strategic thinking;
- Monitoring and evaluating results; and
- Using social deprivation indices to target engagement where need is greatest.
4. Public perceptions are a barrier to participation because of the ideas that the parks are for certain people only (the middle classes/early retired); that outdoors is ‘unsafe’; that the physical terrain is too challenging; that specialist knowledge is required; that other leisure activities are more enjoyable; that tourism is ‘abroad’; that the parks are not for the people who live in them. This could be overcome by:
- Providing targeted, high quality information;
- Recognising that the motivation to visit often comes from the experiences on offer rather than the place, so developing/exploring sustainable activities for new and existing audiences;
- Offering a sense of adventure as the point of visiting;
- Engaging with communities; and
- Finding ways to work sustainably on a local and national level.
5. Gaps in education provision are a barrier to participation because of a lack of embedded engagement with the education system. This could be overcome by:
- Strategic, targeted working;
- Techniques such as facilitated field trips, taster days, info and inset days for teachers, short day visits, engagement with parent teacher associations, engagement at teacher training level; and
- The use of the resurgence of learning outside the classroom.
Q and A session in brief
Digest of questions from floor and answers from panel
Are national parks theme parks?
Not like Alton Towers, for amusement only. But in interpretive planning, the theme is the concept you want people to engage with. So in the sense that you want people to engage with big ideas – yes!
Are national parks assets – if so, who do they belong to?
Conservation is investing in a national asset. And for each person who visits the park, it becomes a personal asset. It’s a national asset that’s available to everyone.
Why do we need to get people to engage with parks?
They are for everyone, and we need to look ‘outside of the room’; there are benefits inherent in these special places that we should share as widely as possible.
If the park is available, surely that is all that matters – it becomes compulsion if we push it too far?
This is about equality and fairness – we need to identify people who do want to come but have barriers.
Should we have a ‘virtual’ set of national parks?
It’s vital that experience should be authentic. There is a role for virtual presentation, but it should lead to the ‘real thing’.
