COUNTY WICKLOW OUTDOOR RECREATION STRATEGY 2020-2025 Valuing Outdoor Recreation in County Wicklow 2 | County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2020 - 2025 CONTENTS RECREATION COUNTY WICKLOW The County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Strategy Action Plan .............................................................. 5 Our Goals ................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Our Principles ..........................................................................................................................................................7 Strategy Purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Strategy Touchstones........................................................................................................................................... 8 Defining Outdoor Recreation ............................................................................................................................10 The Value of Outdoor Recreation ....................................................................................................................10 County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2009 – 2013 ....................................................................11 The Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Committee Profile ................................................................................12 CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS National Context ...................................................................................................................................................15 Stakeholder Strategies .......................................................................................................................................18 Local Context and Consultation ......................................................................................................................19 Key messages gathered during consultation ..............................................................................................21 COUNTY WICKLOW RECREATION The Faces of Outdoor Recreation ..................................................................................................................22 Contextual Conclusions .....................................................................................................................................24 Outdoor Recreation Participants .....................................................................................................................25 STRATEGY 2020 - 2025 Our Structure and Delivery .............................................................................................................................. 27 Pillar 1: Plan and Collaborate. ...........................................................................................................................28 Pillar 2: Increased Awareness .......................................................................................................................... 34 Pillar 3: Resources. ..............................................................................................................................................42 Pillar 4: Animating the Outdoors .....................................................................................................................46 3 Recreation County Wicklow 4 | County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2020 - 2025 THE COUNTY WICKLOW OUTDOOR Our Mission RECREATION STRATEGY ACTION PLAN The mission of the County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Committee is to bring us closer to this vision of Everyone Out. We believe This action plan sets out our ambition for outdoor recreation in that properly valuing the outdoors is central to our future County Wicklow, and the steps to realise it. actions. Valuing the experiences, valuing the outdoor recreation environment and securing the economic value required to sustain Vision and grow outdoor recreation in our county. The consultation process highlighted the value of what we have and Value the outdoors. how it might be enhanced by respecting the underlying ecosystem, • Support more quality outdoor opportunities: programmes and growing the culture of being outdoors, and by having more quality places. outdoors opportunities for people in County Wicklow. • Plan, prioritise and secure additional resources. Enriched outdoor recreation experiences, culture and ecosystem - Everyone In, Everyone Outdoors. • Make everyone aware of the opportunity. OUR GOALS • Everyone in, Everyone outdoors: residents and visitor participation, all abilities. Local stakeholders and neighbouring counties engaged. • Quality: opportunity aware, positive places, excellent experiences, doing better. COUNTY WICKLOW RECREATION • Improve the assets: of the eco-system, landowners, the host communities and the local economy. For today and many tomorrows. • Secure resources: evidence the benefit, make the claim, resource the ambition. • Spread wonder: nurture enjoyment and discovery, reveal the layers and encourage self-discovery through the outdoors. 5 BUILDING WICKLOWS OUTDOOR RECREATION STRATEGY 2020 - 2025 Outdoor Recreation Strategy, 2009 - 2013; integrated management improved opportunities and facilities, 1 supporting conservation promotion, education and awareness, stimulating to tourism and entrepreneurship. 2 National Context; health and well-being, sport policies, tourism development, rural development, arts and heritage. 3 Consultation Process; public meetings, submissions, questionnaires. 4 Participant Focus; residents, tourists. Issues; great venue with significant use and growing demand. Pressure spots around environment, resident and 5 participant implications. Challenges; managing the growth in participation sustainably. Realizing untapped potential. More local 6 participation. Diversify activities. Outdoor Recreation Strategy, 2020 - 2025; 1. Plan and collaborate. OUTPUT 2. Increased awareness. 3. Prioritizing securing and allocating resources. 4. Animating the outdoors. 6 | County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2020 - 2025 OUR PRINCIPLES Quality is about a focus on: While we align with to the principles of the Comhairle na Tuaithe • meaningful outdoor recreation experiences; and those relating to equal opportunity, fairness, openness, • supporting infrastructure such as trails, paths, signage, slipways, transparency, the overarching principles of this strategy are: quays and boardwalks which give comfort to the novice; Respect, Sustain and Quality. • un-littered wilderness which respects the host environment and provides a ‘hard-won grace’ for the participant; Respecting: • panoramas, momentary glimpses, fleeting insights which our landscape and heritage inspires. • the rights of landowners and communities who host outdoor recreation on their property and in their neighbourhoods; To realise these principles, we must have ‘ground level’ initiatives such as trail and infrastructure development, we must take strategic • the right of every member of our community and our visitors to positions and we must nurture a culture that leads tomorrow’s benefit from outdoor recreation. conversation. Sustainability requires that: • the eco-system, which is at the core of the outdoor recreation experience, is actively protected. More than not doing harm, increasingly it is about improving, doing better and correcting the damage of the past; • the history, culture and built heritage of our landscape and COUNTY WICKLOW RECREATION communities are protected and brought to life, not just to add value and depth to the outdoor recreation experience, but because they are our context and our cultural landscape; • our residents and businesses can make a living in their communities, grow our local economy and provide the services which support local quality of life and outdoor recreation opportunities. • we manage the many tomorrows of this outdoor resource, not just the opportunities of today. 7 STRATEGY PURPOSE County Wicklow is an established and well used outdoor recreation setting and this strategy provides a blueprint for further realising this potential1. At a practical level this strategic planning process has ‘checked-in’ on the status of outdoor recreation in the county while the strategy guides the future direction and actions of the County Wicklow Outdoor Recreation Committee. STRATEGY TOUCHSTONES This strategy is about diverse participation and outcomes. Outdoor recreation is more than a walk in the park, it includes a variety of land, The following are a series of reference points which have guided the water and air sports across a span from beginner to the elite, the able development of this strategy and which provide touch points for its future and those with disabilities. While recognising the pre-eminence of ‘foot realisation. sports2’, this strategy encourages the potential of wheeled sports3, water/ marine sports, equestrian activities, niche sports such as paragliding and it Environmental sustainability and long-term planning. The ecosystem of the recognises the value of angling and hunting for our residents and visitors. outdoors is a finite resource. This strategy must play its part in sustaining and ideally improving it. High quality outdoor recreation experiences. Quality is the golden thread. Quality infrastructure supports participation and mitigates damage It is about increasing yield. The community, social,