Parking provision at nature conservation sites and its implications for visitor use

Abstract

With an increasing global population, there is growing demand for access to natural greenspaces for recreation. The importance of such access is now widely recognised, for example in terms of improvements to physical and psychological health. Because recreation can also result in damage to ecological interest, there is a need to balance access and nature conservation. As the primary mode by which visitors arrive to many sites is by car, parking characteristics may influence on-site visitor levels. However, few studies have related visitor use to parking features. Using data from 55 unpublished studies, we consider how parking type (e.g. formal car parks, laybys), parking capacity, presence/absence of facilities and charging relate to the visitor volume at sites designated for their nature conservation interest. A negative binomial regression model to control for the effect of habitat type and season is then developed.The number of visitors was significantly different between parking locations with different capacities. Compared to the smallest locations (2.7 visitors per hour), this difference was strongest for the largest locations (12.5 visitors per hour). Visitor numbers varied less between parking types and with the presence/absence of facilities. Locations where parking was charged, across all capacities, had significantly more visitors than free-of-charge locations. These results provide estimates of typical levels of use at different parking locations. However, visitor numbers might also be influenced by a site’s attractiveness. Further studies on visitor numbers before and after introducing measures are needed, to provide empirical evidence for the effect of parking interventions.