South Downs National Park H e a t h l a n d V i s i t o r Survey 2014 South Downs National Park H e a t h l a n d V i s i t o r Survey 2014 Date: 3rd December, 2014 Version: FINAL Recommended Citation: Lake, S. & Liley, D. (2014) South Downs National Park Heathland Visitor Survey 2014. Unpublished report by Footprint Ecology for the South Downs National Park Authority. Front cover: Iping Common by Chris Gunn licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic South Downs National Park H e a t h l a n d V i s i t o r Survey 2014 Summary This report was commissioned by the South Downs National Park Authority in order to understand access patterns and visitor use of heathland areas within the National Park, focussing on the area approximately lying between Petersfield, Liphook, Haslemere and Pulborough. The survey included fieldwork to map the distribution of all car-parks and access points; counts of parked vehicles; counts of people and visitor interviews. A total of 224 access points were identified and mapped, 89 of which provided informal parking with a further 25 formal car-parks and 110 pedestrian access points. In total there were estimated to be 661 car-parking spaces. Six transects were undertaken counting all parked vehicles in the mapped parking locations. These counts covered a range of times of day and both weekdays and weekend days. Counts ranged from 79 to 114 vehicles, with a mean of 93.2. Accurate counts and face-face interviews were undertaken at a sample of nine access points, covering a range of different sites and different types of access points, including formal car-parks, informal parking locations and foot only access points. In total 306 groups were counted entering sites from the access points; these groups included 470 people and 422 dogs, giving an average group size across all survey points of 1.5 people and 1.4 dogs. This is equivalent to 0.89 dogs for each person counted. The survey point at Chapel Common was the busiest location. Across all sites combined and for four individual sites, early morning (0700-0900) on weekdays was the busiest survey session. In total, 242 interviews were conducted. Most interviewees were on a day trip/short visit and had travelled from home. The majority (78%) were dog walking. Other activities included walking (12%), wildlife watching (3%) and cycling (2%). The proportion of interviewees who were dog walking compared to other activities was particularly high at Chapel Common and Lord’s Piece. Ninety-six percent of interviewees with dogs said that they had (or intended to) let their dog off the lead on their visit. Most interviewees had spent or were planning to spend between 30 minutes and one hour on site and visited regularly (74% visited at least weekly). Chapel Common and Lord’s Piece had the greatest proportion of daily (or almost daily) visitors – corresponding to the sites with a high proportion of dog walkers. A high proportion of interviewees (86%) visited the site throughout the year. Most interviewees (85%) arrived by car, with only small numbers arriving on foot (12%), bicycle (2%) or horse (1%). People had chosen to visit the site where their interview took place for a range of reasons including habit or familiarity (44% responses), quality of the area (38%), scenery/views (30%), or it being good for the dog (28%). Most interviewees perceived access exclusions to protect wildlife, byelaws to limit BBQs, fines for not collecting dog waste and penalties to enforce anti-social behaviour as being positive measures, while a requirement to keep dogs on leads, the site being busy with lots of other people, and the provision of a cafe were perceived of as negative or unnecessary features. Interviewees’ routes (mapped as part of the interview) ranged from 50m to over 6km, with most between 2km and 3km. The mean route length for dog walkers was 2.19km. The median distance between the start of the route and the midpoint (measured ‘as the crow flies’) for all mapped routes 1 South Downs National Park H e a t h l a n d V i s i t o r Survey 2014 was 562m, indicating the distance that the majority of visitors ‘penetrated’ into the site. Most (83%) interviewees did not/were not intending to leave the path or trail during their visit. A total of 225 interviews (93%) generated valid, full postcodes that could be plotted within a GIS. The distribution of interviewee postcodes shows a wide scatter. Many were residents at local settlements but there were a range of visitors from further afield including a scatter of locations along the south coast. The median distance from home postcode to survey point was 3.47km and the third quartile (i.e. the distance from which 75% of visitors had originated) was 6.68km. 2 South Downs National Park H e a t h l a n d V i s i t o r Survey 2014 Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................... 5 Heathlands Reunited .............................................................................................. 5 Importance of Access .............................................................................................. 5 Nature conservation impacts of access ................................................................... 6 Aims of this report .................................................................................................. 6 2. Methods .............................................................................................. 9 Distribution of car-parks and access points ............................................................. 9 Counts of parked vehicles ....................................................................................... 9 Counts of People and Visitor Interviews ................................................................ 11 Counts of people ............................................................................................................ 11 Face-face interviews ...................................................................................................... 11 Analysis and Data Presentation ............................................................................ 12 3. Results ............................................................................................... 15 Driving Transects .................................................................................................. 15 Tally Data ............................................................................................................. 17 Questionnaires ..................................................................................................... 20 Visitor interviews ........................................................................................................... 20 Type of visit ................................................................................................................... 20 Activities ....................................................................................................................... 21 Duration, frequency and timing of visit ........................................................................... 22 Transport to site ............................................................................................................ 26 Reasons for visiting the site/area ................................................................................... 27 Visitor perceptions of specific site features and how they might enhance their enjoyment ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Dogs .............................................................................................................................. 34 3 South Downs National Park H e a t h l a n d V i s i t o r Survey 2014 Other sites visited .......................................................................................................... 36 Routes .................................................................................................................. 38 Postcodes ............................................................................................................. 42 4. Discussion .......................................................................................... 48 Limitations............................................................................................................ 48 6. References ......................................................................................... 49 7. Appendices ........................................................................................ 52 Appendix 1: Summary of survey dates and rainfall ................................................ 52 Appendix 2: Questionnaire ................................................................................... 53 Appendix 3: Reasons for visiting ........................................................................... 59 Appendix 4: Reasons why visitors chose the site where they were interviewed to visit ...................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix 5: The importance of measures on site .................................................. 63 Appendix 6: Features that would enhance enjoyment .......................................... 64 Appendix 7: Other sites ........................................................................................ 65 Appendix 8: Choice of route