Cars To Be Banned From The Broads?

[JennyMorgan]

https://www.countryfile.com/people/opinion/should-cars-be-banned-from-national-parks/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=CFIL&utm_campaign=Newsletter 21%2F01%2F2021_665591_Countryfile_Newsletters_11603611

[BroadAmbition]

The above topic doesn't concern the Broads of course seeing as it is not a national park

Griff

[grendel]

besides they would sink

 

[MaceSwinger]

24 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

The above topic doesn't concern the Broads of course seeing as it is not a national park

Griff

Absolutely! No doubt of course that they'd want to follow suit though, if what many people think of the BA is to be believed.

I can't help but think if they banned cars and forced visitors to rely on public transport in and out, and of course within the park itself, then it'd kill a lot of areas off. I love the Lakes but if you were to tell me I had to park up at Shap and get the bus in and around I don't think I'd bother any more. That's a hotel or campsite, boat tour operator at Windermere, restaurants, shops and all sorts that have lost business. I doubt I'm alone in that attitude, either.

Conservation coming before enjoyment will work to a point, but not when an area is dying off and everyone is becoming unemployed!

[CambridgeCabby]

If they do go ahead with this proposal then give it a few years and we will be reading about the decline of visitors and the struggling economies in the areas that rely on the tourism income , we have grown dependant on the car and freedom which it gives us .

[floydraser]

Excellent timing: just we have a pandemic for which we have no cure, someone proposes to crowd us all together on buses as an alternative to one of the best, most versatile and affordable modes of transport available.

More places to park cars is the answer, along with more attractive prices to use them. 

[RS2021]

When I was in Canada recently, when you crossed the boundary into a Nation Park you had to stop and buy a pass which allowed access to all the car parks, picnic areas, campsites etc. If you didn't you could still drive through, but could not stop at any of the National Park facilities.

[MaceSwinger]

Just now, floydraser said:

Excellent timing: just we have a pandemic for which we have no cure, someone proposes to crowd us all together on buses as an alternative to one of the best, most versatile and affordable modes of transport available.

More places to park cars is the answer, along with more attractive prices to use them. 

There are a couple of country parks local that have huge car parks that are never full. The roads around are of course, because our local borough and county councils (Charnwood and Leicestershire respectively) like to screw every penny out of people. Parking charges are ridiculous.

[floydraser]

17 minutes ago, MaceSwinger said:

There are a couple of country parks local that have huge car parks that are never full. The roads around are of course, because our local borough and county councils (Charnwood and Leicestershire respectively) like to screw every penny out of people. Parking charges are ridiculous.

Exactly, and as you most probably know, the same is true of the National Trust & others in the Lake District. I remember pulling into one place we had never been to before just to have a look around. The car park charges were high enough to make us consider the fact that if we didn't like it we would most likely want to go and visit another place to make a day of it. No wonder people look for places to park on verges and farmers have to deploy concrete barriers etc.

Market Harborough is a lovely desirable place to live these days but back in the 1970's it was quite run down to say the least. Free parking was the answer. It soon brought the shoppers back in and the place has never looked back. It's not free anymore by the way!

I'm afraid it's going to be a very long time before I get on public transport again.

[Maxwellian]

Click bait

[ranworthbreeze]

Most if not all of the National Parks are in remote area's that public transport can never provide services other than piecemeal; as already stated it is the local residents that have to pay for these services or in some cases lack of them.

Lets face it these quangos  that run the National Parks are not interested in what the the people think; the Lake District is a prime example.

[MauriceMynah]

Why do people start threads based on any article printed by the EDP?

I would sooner trust the the word of the "great dictator" over anything released by that rag!

[Shemaha]

Well in ten years time we will all be driving electric cars (😂😂) which unless they are able to increase the range or install enough fast charging stations on route, no one will be able to get there in a day, it's like turning the clock back to the stage coach taking several days journey from the South East to get to the Lake District. Hey ho that's progress. 😕

[marshman]

Whilst I may have similar views on electric cars, possibly because I am just too old to see it, never underestimate the human mind - Google for example is just over 20 yrs old! Even the internet is not that much older, and I remember the first electronic calculators and how expensive they were ( thanks Mr Sinclair! ) A vaccine which took less than a year to develop, test and put in production - don't be ridiculous!

There I was locked down with nothing to do and scrolling through some silly news story the other day, I spotted that some bright spark (!) had discovered that heating Li ion batteries to 60c, plus some other tricks, allowed you to recharge them  to around 80% capacity in around 5mins - and that was from a domestic electricity source, not some special charging structure. True? I have no idea! Feasible? Similarly!!

But never underestimate the ingenuity of what humans have the ability to do - avoiding pandemics? Who knows one pill p.a. might sort that, but please, can I die first,. not sure my body wants to live forever and if it does, I certainly do not want to look in the mirror!!!!

 

[JennyMorgan]

As one who visits national parks by car I have to say that I'm at a loss on this one. The access issue is of paramount importance if people are to be able to visit and enjoy what is on offer, whether National Trust, National Park or The Broads. Perhaps Park & Ride is the answer but not universally, at least not for those of us who have mobility issues. I'm not going to suggest 'travellators' or the like but limiting access is surely not the way forward. Better management surely?

Should cars be banned on national parks then will such a ban apply to NP family members? I wouldn't anticipate that Broads businesses would be overly thrilled at the prospect!

There is no question that our national parks are under considerable pressure right now but I'm not convinced that banning cars, or boats for that matter, is the way forward.

 

 

[jeffbroadslover]

I have a vision of a beautiful area of countryside having a HUGE slab of tarmac marked out with white lines all over it. These lines would be so close to each other that you would not be able to park an average sized car between them and there would be no space to sit next to your car to enjoy a nice cuppa if you so wished.

There would be a large ugly sign next to an ugly machine which would be there to extract all your spare cash for a small piece of paper which says you can leave your car where it is for a certain length of time.

You would then be allowed to purchase another piece of paper which then allows you to stand and wait for an undersized bus which when you eventually get on it does not go directly to the part of this wonderful countryside that you would like to visit. You would then have to get in another queue to carry on to another area or to go back to your car.

Can't understand why no-one hasn't thought of this before!!!!! 

[floydraser]

Talk of park and ride made me wonder how close Postwick P&R is to the river for "Park & Float". But then I notice there seems to be just a row of trees between the car park and the railway. Please tell me someone considered putting a platform there and it was rejected for very good reasons? It would give access to Norwich and the Broads. 

Just saying.

[rightsaidfred]

Has anyone bothered to ask the local residents and businesses in the NPs let alone the Norfolk towns and villages adjacent to the Broads how they are going to conduct their everyday lives.

Fred

 

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

Why do people start threads based on any article printed by the EDP?

I would sooner trust the the word of the "great dictator" over anything released by that rag!

It isn't from the EDP.

[Wussername]

All is not lost. Let's hear it for the horse!

[Turnoar]

My first thoughts on this were on your bike... but actually that’s playing into their aim but in any case I prefer to travel by push bike so I’ve snookered myself. But no I would snooker them by going for an Amphicar converted to electric. No doubt there is a green agenda, carbon zero, neutral, net.... it’s been 20 years now and I’m never sure of the target! But I think an electric Amphicar should not be banned from an NP and might tick more than one box?

[grendel]

considering the push to get us all in electric vehicles surely their argument falls on the first hurdle, they would need to provide parking with electric charge points. add to that most people wont be able to get to a national park in an electric vehicle due to lack of range and the problem is solved in a heartbeat. as is their income for the next 30 years

[Islander]

So for all these electric vehicles they will dig up great chunks of these so called parks just for some hair brained idea from some grass eating pen-pusher. I think that’s it.

Colin 

[rightsaidfred]

Well I for one won't be driving an electric car, my current diesel car will see out the rest of my lifetime needs and is actually cleaner than the petrol/hybrid equivalent.

Fred

 

[JennyMorgan]

If this unlikely ban is brought in what then for the Broads? The area isn't a national park thus such a ban would surely not apply. Indeed the BA has no responsibility for road traffic. I wonder what the real national parks would then say if the Broads maintained the NP masquerade yet ignored the NP traffic ban?  Electric or diesel, not the issue, it's the sheer number of cars and visitors that is the problem. As we have seen during this past winter North Norfolk has suffered a massif influx of cars, it's not just an NP issue. As far as the Broads is concerned the area might be the route but it's not necessarily the destination. Ban cars that want to go from Norwich to Yarmouth, it would be an absolute nonsense! I don't see this scheme reaching fruition but interesting times ahead if it does.