UNESCO Global Geopark

Scrutiny Review – Final Report

Name of Audit & Scrutiny Committee Date 30th March 2018

Report Author Richard Tyler, Alan Bowring & Clarissa Price

Job title Sustainable Tourism Manager, Geopark Development Officer & Geopark Marketing Officer Contact Details [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Purpose of Report To complete the Action Plan process following the Geopark Scrutiny Report

Single Integrated Assessment List of Enclosures Enclosure 1 Action Plan Report

Recommendation(s) That Audit & Scrutiny Committee accepts the Action Plan Report as the final submission for the Scrutiny Action Plan

1. Introduction In 2016 the Scrutiny Panel for Fforest Fawr Geopark produced their report and action plan. Progress has been reported on a 6 monthly basis and it is now proposed that the attached report should be the final submission to the Committee.

2. Key Outcomes The Panel was particularly concerned that the Geopark was not sufficiently well known amongst visitors or residents. Officers explained that the process up to that time had focused on generating experiences for visitors rather than marketing an area which had relatively little of a coordinated offer. Equally, training businesses in Geopark knowledge has been a key component of the work, particularly through the Geopark Ambassador scheme. In addition we now have funding through an EU Interreg project to take forward the marketing of the Geopark and, since the appointment of the Geopark Marketing Officer in December 2017, this work has proceeded apace. Results to March 2018 include:

2.1 FFGP Marketing Action Plan

The Geopark Marketing Officer has drafted a Marketing Plan with the key objective being to increase the profile of FFGP and the west of the Park over the next two years. The strategy will be primarily based around digital platforms include refreshing the Geopark presence on the Destination website www.breconbeacons.org to ensure visitors are aware of the offer. Other digital platforms include regular weekly posts on Facebook highlighting the offers in the west and an Instagram account.

Press and PR will be utilised in marketing the Geopark, with regular press releases circulated to media lists established through the BBNPA. Opportunities to feature in publications and on TV and radio will also be sought to raise further the Geopark’s profile through existing and new contacts and the destination PR company, Hills Balfour.

Further transnational marketing opportunities will be available through participation in the Interreg Atlantic Geoparks project. Through partner participation in websites, newsletters and PR opportunities it will strengthen the FFGP brand further.

Marketing reports will be given quarterly to the FFGP Management Group and the Beacons Destination Delivery Group.

2.2 FFGP Press & PR

2018 Press and PR update. All aiming to increase people’s knowledge of FFGP and the west of the Park.

January 2018  Brecon & Radnor Express – Welcome to Mid – FFGP article  BBNPA – Visitor Guide 2018 – FFGP article February 2018  Planning of Harper’s Bazaar online journalist trip – with a focus on the west of the Park  Tourism Conference – presentation on FFGP and Atlantic Geopark Project March 2018  Press release – The top 10 things to see and do in the Fforest Fawr Geopark this Easter (the article featured on the Destination website and received 456 views over the Easter holidays).  Brecon Beacons Tourism Blog Post - The top 10 things to see and do in the Fforest Fawr Geopark this Easter.  Journalist visit – Harper’s Bazaar Online – published article online following visit. Featured , Range, and Usk Valley.  Upper Usk Valley Visitor Guide – Double page spread on FFGP and visitor attractions.  Brecon Beacons Tourism Meeting – presentation on the Geopark to businesses.

2.3 FFGP Social Media

2.3.1 Facebook FFGP now features weekly on the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority Facebook page @breconbeaconsnationalpark. This page currently has 24,742 followers. Content includes features on what a Geopark is, its key natural and cultural attractions, places to visit. All of this aims to drive visitors to FFGP.

Content is also shared on the Destination’s Facebook page @thebreconbeacons (20,802 followers). The hashtag #fforestfawrgeopark features in all posts across all social media content and people are asked to use it to tag photos etc. The total reach of FFGP content on Facebook to date is 29,260 people.

2.3.2 Instagram – A Fforest Fawr Geopark Instagram page has been created - @fforestfawrgeopark and @geoparcfforestfawr (Welsh). This platform will be used to again tell the FFGP story but also highlight what it has to offer. Instagram is all about visual content and is a great way to show the beauty and features of the FFGP, engaging people to visit. Content being generated by the Geopark Marketing Officer and through shared posts.

2.4 Destination & FFGP Website

The Destination website www.breconbeacons.org is the National Park’s main visitor-facing website which had 654,000 visits in 2017. The Brecon Beacons brand is well established and the FFGP offer will be developed within these pages.

When marketing the Geopark, people will be driven to the FFGP pages within the website. Its content is being reviewed and updated to include more walks, geotrails and visitor friendly information.

In the first quarter of 2018, with a Marketing Officer in place, visits to the FFGP section of the Destination website have increased by 38% on the same quarter of 2017.

Visitors will be signposted to the FFGP branded website www.fforestfawrgeopark.org.uk from the Destination website. The offer is more in-depth and is aimed at the more geologically interested visitors, academics & schools, partners and the wider Geopark network.

2.5 FFGP - Other Marketing

A new Cribarth Geotrail leaflet has been prepared this spring and will be formally launched during the 2018 Geopark Festival. Funding has been identified within the Atlantic Geoparks Interreg Project to allow for the creation of some new FFGP marketing materials. This will include leaflets, banners and advertising.

Interpretation of FFGP – The Geopark Development Officer has worked with NRW on the renewal of interpretation and orientation material at Penwyllt to ensure the placement of the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu National Nature Reserve within the Geopark is made apparent. This follows a similar approach taken previously at Craig Cerrig-gleisaid NNR.

2.6 ICT based promotion

One of the objectives of the Interreg Atlantic Geopark project is to create an ICT tool. This will result in an app and video content that can be used by all partners including FFGP to further promote their Geoparks locally and transnationally.

2.7 Geopark Festival

Planning of the annual Fforest Fawr Geopark Festival is underway. This year’s dates are Saturday 19 May to Sunday 3 June 2018 and the festival will be funded by the project. As ever it will include a range of walks and talks on a broad range of geopark themes. The 2017 event attracted around 800 participants.

The well-established and popular Family Activity Day takes place at Craig-y-nos Country Park on Wednesday 30th June and provides an opportunity for geological, archaeological and natural history outreach activities alongside fun events for children including a themed zipwire and relevant hands-on activities

2.8 Ambassadors

The Geopark module within the well-established National Park Ambassador programme continues to be very well-received, stimulating many participant tourism businesses to go on to join the two-day Geopark Ambassador training programme, now in its sixth year and having trained just short of 100 individuals during that time. Training takes place at Craig-y- nos Country Park and Penwyllt on day one and at on day two.

Previously developed in the east of the national Park, Local Ambassador training is delivered with a Geopark flavour in the west, The most recent such occasion was in March 2018 when 6 staff of the newly-established Sgwd Gwladys Lodge (occupying the former Waterfalls Centre in Pontneddfechan) benefitted from a 2 hour evening training session with the Geopark Development Officer. A training walk is planned for these staff in the summer to better enable them to deliver Geopark and National Park messages and advice to their customers. Further training has been delivered to members of SWOAPG during the last 6 months and more is planned for June 2018 at CyNCP/Cribarth.

Again, training is now fundable within the project, reducing pressures on other budgets.

Mountain and Moorland Ambassadors The Geopark Development Officer has developed the concept of ‘taking the Geopark on tour’ when providing training and interpretive events elsewhere within and around the National Park. Invitations to explore particular aspects of the natural and cultural heritage of the west of the National Park are included within events and training conducted in the east eg Talgarth and Crickhowell walking festivals, training for upland path volunteers and the Mountain and Moorland Ambassador training which has just been launched.

2.9 Other Awareness Raising programmes

2.9.1 Geologists’ Association annual national conference fieldtrip

The Geopark hosted one of two field trips laid on for delegates of the Geologists’ Association annual national conference which returned to Wales in October 2017 for the first time in many years. The Geopark received very positive feedback and enhanced its national profile amongst a wider community of geologists, some of whom announced they anticipated bringing groups back to the area in future.

2.9.2 Welsh Joint Education Committee visit In March 2018, the Geopark Development Officer took part in a National Park Education Service training event for geography teaching staff from across the region aimed at improving the delivery of the ‘new ‘glacial processes’ element of the Welsh curriculum at KS3, having identified sites within the geopark and developed the course material and content with education officers over the previous year. The event was attended by an officer of the Welsh Joint Education Committee and being very well received, WJEC guidance to teachers was amended subsequently.

2.9.3 Geopark Hub Development at Craig y Nos Country Park: The decision announced by the UNESCO Geopark committee in early 2017 to award a ‘green card’ to the Geopark following its 2016 revalidation, was as is usual, accompanied by a series of recommendations, one of which was to re-establish a centre for the Geopark following the closure of the Waterfalls Centre at Pontneddfechan, which was in any case intended by the NPA. Funding from Welsh Government has been received and Officers working with the Geopark Management Group have been developing plans for its implementation. This will include new orientation signage, a refreshed ‘Geoterrace’ incorporating interpretive and information panels and promote connections to the surrounding landscape; all telling the Geopark story.

Further links to the Geopark will be developed at the hub with communities including Pontneddfechan (eg Sgwd Gwladys Lodge), Coelbren Miners Memorial Hall and Ystradowen Community Centre. Further interpretation of the Geopark to visitors will be developed during the course of 2018 at each of these locations, developed with the local communities and businesses as appropriate.

2.9.4 UK Committee for UNESCO Global Geoparks Annual Meeting FFGP will be hosting the meeting of the UKCUGG on Wednesday and Thursday 16/17 May This will provide a first-class opportunity for Fforest Fawr Geopark to showcase its assets to other members of the network within Britain and strengthen links between partners to mutual benefit.

2.9.5 Hay Literature Festival 2018 Alan Bowring, FFGP Development Officer, will be leading an interpretive bus tour and walk as part of Hay Festival. The Festival attracts people from all over the world and provides an excellent opportunity to showcase the Geopark to potential new audiences. The event is already fully booked.

3. Conclusions

The approval of the Interreg project has allowed us to put in place a series of actions to raise the profile of the Geopark and its new UNESCO status. It is felt that this will fulfill most of the actions within the Panel’s Action Plan and enable the Geopark to better deliver on its mission to bring more benefit from tourism in the west of the park.

RECOMMENDATION That Audit & Scrutiny accept this final report on the Panel’s recommendations.