Tuesday 15 May 2007

Castleton Peak District - Tourism Impacts

Intro...
Castleton is a small village in the peak district, Derbyshire its very popular with tourists because of its beautiful scenery for example it overlooks Mam Tor and Pevril Castle , It’s a small village with shops and houses, the houses are made of local materials such as limestone rock. The village consists of several shops, post office, a hotel, church with a tower, and a tourist information centre.

The village is a popular spot for tourists, with cars passing through it all the time through out the year, but some of the locals take this as a big problem so this will be part of my investigation as to what the locals think about this and what could possibly be improved, When we went to Castleton we took information on the following:traffic and parking count, litter and environmental survey, registration plates, people count and people questionnaires. We have recorded this information so we can make are own investigation on the situation of Castleton, Our group will record the data into a files while we are at Castleton.

Castleton is one of the small villages in the Peak District. The Peak District is a very popular place for tourists attracting visitors on sunny weekends. It’s located in Derbyshire at the bottom of the Pennine range. The rock types you would find in the peak district is shale’s, grits ,sandstones and Limestone, some of the upper rocks have weathered away, leaving the limestone rock exposed. The valley floor has rich fertile soils whereas the upland areas have poorer quality soils. The Peak district is good for farming; you would expect to find sheep mainly. It has white and dark peaks, dark is a sparse area and has mainly shale’s and grit rock types and white is a popular area for visitors and has a limestone rock type.

Problems facing Castleton are the increase of tourism which could lead to litter and traffic Congestion. Other environmental effects are footpath erosion, which need regular maintenance .The maintenance however gives jobs for the local community to keep up with the increase of tourists visiting these areas, but not all the locals appreciate the tourists.

Data Sources

The primary evidence I collected was when I went to Castleton and recorded: Traffic counts, car registration numbers, Car parking survey, environmental survey, litter survey, pedestrian count, questionnaires, new visitor centre site and a footpath survey. Here is what data will be collected in each;

Traffic Count: This is recording the number of vehicles which pass in and out of Castleton at a certain site.

Car Registration Numbers: this is writing down the number plates of cars at a certain site.

Car Parking Survey: At each site we visit we will record the number of parking spaces and see how many spaces are free and taken.

Environmental survey: Here is where we record things such as; litter, noise, builings, crime, erosion, traffic, pollution, vegetation and wildlife at a certain site.

Litter survey: At this point we will record all litter types on the ground.

Pedestrian Count: At each site we visit we will record the number of people at that site.

Questionnaires: As we go around the Castleton village we will ask a person to do a questionnaire based on Castleton.

Footpath Survey: When we came onto this stage we went up Mam Tor and recorded information on paths around the area.

New Visitor Centre: We where given points to find in Castleton for where a possible visitor centre could be, at each site we recorded data e.g. how close to village, space, access etc. After we had recorded each site we had to do one of our own possible sites for a visitor centre


The Impacts and Management of Tourism in Castleton



Secondary data sources used
The secondary data sources I will be using in my overall investigation are leaflets from the information centre within Castleton. Also Websites on the internet e.g. The Peak District National Park official website. A PowerPoint presentation given by teachers from school and questionnaires from people in Castleton.



Internet sites I used websites for images and up to date news on Castleton and the Peak District. An example would be the Peak District national Park website.
Leaflets These were available in the information centre in Castleton; I will use these to get information on the village and what the leaflets offer tourists.
Presentations I will use this data source to access pictures which I might need or maps or the land use.
Questionnaires This is where we ask people in Castleton questions on the village, whether their tourists or locals
Car Registration Codes This gave us information as to where car registration codes where from in the country. This would link to which part of the country certain tourists are travelling from.


Data Tables and Graphs


 I have entered my data into tables and shown them in graphs using excel.

site 1 site 2 site 3 site 4 site 5 site 6 site 7 site 8 site 9 site 10
Car 7 14 1 1 8 20 n/a 11 6 16
Van 1 1 1 2 2
Bus 2 4 1
HGV 1
Cycle 1 2
Motorcycle 1
Other
Delays
Total Number 10 17 1 1 10 26 n/a 12 6 20
Traffic Count – Going Into Castleton:



How I Plan to use my Data Sources

I will write about how I will use each piece of data:


Traffic Count: I can use this data to find out how many tourists drive in and out of Castleton.
This data will show more cars entering Castleton, than cars heading out of Castleton.
I can also use this data to find out how Castleton manages with traffic flow.

Car Registration Numbers: This will give me an indication as to which part of the country certain tourists are travelling from.
This data will show a variety of different cities or towns

Car Parking Survey: I can use this data to understand how Castleton manages with parking; this will help me when I come to write about how the impacts of tourism are in and around Castleton.

Environmental Survey: I will use this data when I write about how Castleton manages tourism. The results of this data will show me how well Castleton’s environment is kept up with.

Litter Survey: This will be similar of like Environmental survey but this will help me with my investigation as to how tourists abide to Environmental rules. The data results should be low to prove that Castleton keeps up with environmental issues.

Pedestrian Count: I can use this data to find out how many people come to Castleton, but also to find out which parts of Castleton people are attracted to. This will help me prove that Castleton is a honeypot village.

Questionnaires: I will use this to find out what people think about Castleton; these people are a mixture of tourist and residents of Castleton. I will use this data when I’m writing about the impacts of tourism.

Footpath Survey: I will use this data to show the impacts of Castleton and the Peak District National Park.

New Visitor Centre: I will use the data I collected from all four sites and write which one will be most suitable for a new centre. I will choose 1 site and make a plan of how the centre will be designed.

Tourism Functions and Changes



Why Castleton is a Honey Pot
A honey pot is an area which attracts many tourists. Usually because of its outstanding beauty or its historic buildings. Castleton is a honey pot village because it attracts many tourists from all around the country. Castleton’s main Attractions are Pevril Castle, Mam Tor Mountain and generally its attractive countryside. The main features in the village are shops which are angled at tourists e.g. gift shops, cafĂ©’s and pubs. The village has its own visitor centre which is purely for tourists to find out information on what they can do in the area.

There are many activities which tourist can do shown below:

• Walking
• Shopping
• Visiting caverns such as (Cave Dale, Peak cavern, Speedwell Cavern, Treak Cliff and Blue John Cavern).
• Peveril Castle
• Visit the Youth Hostel
• Pubs such as (Bull's Head, the Olde Nags Head and the Castle)
• Restaurants such as (Swiss House Hotel)

Below is a table to show how many services Castleton offers

TYPE NUMBER
Bed & Breakfast 7
Hotels 4
Camping & Caravan Sites 4
Youth Hostels 1
Cafes 6
Information 1
Public Houses 6
Fish & Chip Shop 1
Gift Shops 9


Castleton however isn’t a good place for general shopping goods due to its lack of convenience stores. From the table above we can see services are mainly for tourists.

Other info


Castleton has become more residential since the 1800’s, but also more non residential. This could be due to the fact that Castleton has to cater for tourists needs. The non residential areas may be areas that are targeted at the tourists.



Whilst I visited Castleton I recorded 100 pedestrians mainly around areas that have things for them to see and do. Activities which can be done in Castleton are outdoor sports such as walking, caving, pony trekking, paragliding and cycling. Several outdoor pursuit centres operate in and around the village. These all attract tourists into Castleton. The facilities which tourists have in Castleton are bed and breakfasts, Hotels, Camping sites, Cafes, Information centres, Public houses, fish and chip shops and Gift shops.


The Impacts of Tourism in Castleton and the National Park


Castleton is one of many small honey pot villages in the peak district National Park. The main impact on Castleton is tourism. Castleton attracts many tourists from different locations. There are small and large impacts on Castleton, some long-term others short-term.

The long term effects could be to the environment and wildlife, this could be caused by the tourists walking along the footpaths up Mam Tor, because not all tourists abide to the National Park rules, People may drop litter or not stick to the footpaths. A possible result could lead to footpath erosion which is a long-term danger.


From this picture you can see wear on the paths. Improvement schemes such as resurfacing paths with local stone or re- routing paths have been undertaken to try and reduced the amount of erosion. But if the amount of tourists increase this wont be effective enough long- term.





Due to the high increases of tourism comes traffic congestion which affects the village in many ways. This impact is bad for locals as they will suffer from large amounts of the traffic congestion on a day to day basis, shop owners will benefit from the tourists because they bring money into the village, making the local economy wealthier.


The congestion soils the natural character of the village. Making more car parks may not solve this problem because it would only attract more tourists causing more congestion.









The Impacts of Tourism in Castleton and the National Park




Impacts (small to large)

• Cement works as an eyesore
• Noise problems
• Litter problems
• Erosion of footpaths
• Road problems
• Lack of activities for tourists
• Residents Privacy
• Parking problems
• Traffic congestion
• Lack of facilities for locals






What do people think about the impacts of tourism?

Local residents: Local residents will find the over run numbers of tourists an invasion of there privacy, and may feel frustrated with the traffic congestions. Residents which own small fields may become angry if visitors are walking over there land.
Shop owners: shop owners will benefit from more trade, but may feel competition from other shops so there profits are reduced.
Environmentalists: Will feel that the national park is in danger of development, they also want to try tackling problems with car congestion.
Unemployed workers: might find jobs within the village, these jobs could be linked to helping keep up with the town.


Castleton needs a new Information Centre; the current Centre is inadequate for the amount of tourist Castleton attracts. The building is small so only a certain number of people can enter it at one time. The building needs to stand out so tourists know where it is. More needs to be offered within the Information centre to help tourists


Current Information Centre
Things which make this current Information Centre inadequate are:
• The building is too small to provide information for the amount of tourists.
• It doesn’t offer many services to the tourists.
• It doesn’t employ enough staff to manage the centre.







Sites for Development


Site1
What makes this a good site?
• Good access to road leading to Mama Tor
• A large sized plot
• Not much impact on area
• Lots of parking areas
• Good public transport
Bad things about this site
• Quite far from the centre



















Site 2
What makes this a good site?
• Good access to the main road.
• Not much impact on the area
• Not far from centre
• Lots of car parking space behind the plot
What make this a bad site?
• none












Site3
What makes this a good site?
• It has good access to the main road.
• The area is large so a substantial sized building can be built here.


What makes this a bad site?
• The site is far out of the centre of the village.
• The site is near the residential area
• It will have a bad impact on the environment
• Uneven ground for building.




Sites for Development






Chosen site
What is good about this site?
• Good road access
• Close to a car park
• Good sized plot for buildings
• Very close to the centre of the village
What is bad about this site?
• Loss of plant life










This site has to be the most suitable; because it has the best road access since it’s next to the main car park. It’s in a very short distance from the current visitor centre so tourists won’t miss it. It’s near public facilities such as toilets. Another good point is that it’s in the centre of the village so tourists are immediately near the shops. Some of the over sites were perfect for building on but certain things didn’t make them appropriate. The over sites were not as appropriate compared to this site because they were either too far out from the village or they had poor road access. The only problem with a new visitor centre in this site is the damage to the trees and wildlife, the local environmentalists may not like this. If the new visitor centre is going to be at this site it must be built with minimum impact on the environment. For it to be built in this area it must blend in with the local surroundings an example for this is limestone rock.

Conclusion


Conclusion

In my investigation I’ve recorded data and shown how Castleton manages with tourism. I can conclude that Castleton is a honey pot village. Also that Castleton has an increasing amount of tourists. I’ve found out that the residents of Castleton don’t like the problems that are resulted from tourists

I’ve found out that tourism is having an effect on Castleton village environmentally, such as footpath erosion and litter.

A new information centre needs to be built to cope with the high numbers of visitors. People of Castleton want more to be done for them, e.g. a local convenience store. Development is needed so that there are more places for people to go when they come into Castleton.


My work can be used by local councils to show them what Castleton’s situation is like. My work gives detailed data on impacts of tourism which councils could look at and work out which areas need improvement on.

If I did my investigation again I could spend longer at Castleton so my data has a wider range of results. My work would be better if I spend more time taking down results. I could improve my set of results by asking more people about there views in Castleton.