Cycle tourism development in the Peak District National Park, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Protected areas are at the centre of nature-based tourism, which is increasingly popular across the world. As visitor numbers increase, so does awareness of the harmful effects that large crowds may have on both natural resources and individuals’ recreational experience. This volume considers the challenge of transportation to and within natural and protected areas, the improvement of which has already been recognised as having great potential for mitigating the environmental impacts of ecotourism. While several books have focused considerable attention to the management of protected areas in general, little has been said about the specific issue of sustainable transport, an emerging trend that is already reshaping visitation patterns in natural settings. This book provides current knowledge on issues associated with the transportation of visitors in natural and protected areas, and a comprehensive overview of the technical and strategic options available to tackle these issues. It approaches the subject via three main topics: preferences, or the visitors' attitudes towards transportation; practices, where current approaches are assessed through examples and case-studies of successful experiences and methodologies from around the world; and policies, where suggestions and recommendations are put forward for both local scale strategies and broad-scale regulatory action with global relevance. Contributors include academics in the field of natural resource management and tourism, with extensive experience in protected area management and active partnerships with natural park administrations

Washington's growth and opportunity act or Beijing's 'Overarching Brilliance': will African governments choose neither?

Growing criticism of Chinese engagement in Africa centres on the risk to African development posed by China's aggressive export policies and the threat to the Washington Consensus and African governance posed by China's 'non-interference' approach to engagement. This article challenges both these assumptions. The growth of Chinese trade has a wide range of impacts, depending on the sector in question, and the current terms of trade Washington extends to Africa under the auspices of the AGOA do not result in uniformly beneficial effects. With regard to African governance, it is argued that the 'Washington Consensus' has been based on competing and often muddled perceptions of US national interest. This fact tempers the regret felt at Washington's loss of influence over the good governance agenda. Evidence is provided to show that China can work within properly regulated countries and industries, if the African governments in question can provide fair, efficient and transparent environments in which to operate

Lone parent obligations: destinations of lone parents after Income Support eligibility ends (Research report no 710)

"As part of the Lone Parent Obligations (LPO) changes, from November 2008 lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over were no longer entitled to receive Income Support (IS) solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. Since then, the age of the youngest child has reduced to ten and over from October 2009 and seven and over from October 2010. Lone parents who are no longer eligible for IS have been able to move to other benefits as appropriate, including Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). The JSA regime has been amended to include flexibilities for parents, for example, in the hours of work they are required to seek. The aim of this evaluation is to explore whether and how lone parent employment interventions provide an effective incentive to look for paid employment, alongside an effective package of support for workless lone parents, to enable them to find, enter and sustain paid employment." - Page 1

Providing Public Transport for Tourists in Rural Areas

Travel, both to the destination area and within the area, accounts for a high proportion of tourism’s emissions. Yet, relatively little attention has been directed at reducing emissions through encouraging visitors to use public rather private transport. This paper reports the findings of surveys of bus passengers within British rural tourist areas and demonstrates how they bring extra visitors and spending to attractions, while reducing car use. It discusses the potential of using public transport to enhance the tourism offer and the problems, and some solutions, of funding such services. Recent developments are introduced

Localized modes in nonlinear photonic kagome nanoribbons

We examine localization of light in nonlinear (Kerr) kagome lattices in the shape of narrow strips of varying width. For the narrowest ribbon, the band structure features a flat band leading to linear dynamical trapping of an initially localized excitation. We also find a geometry-induced bistability of the nonlinear modes as the width of the strip is changed. A crossover from one to two dimensions localization behavior is observed as the width is increased, attaining two-dimensional behavior for relatively narrow ribbons.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, submitted for publicatio

Workington Travel Survey

The floods of November 20th 2009 destroyed or damaged four of the five bridges across the River Derwent at Workington, severing road and pedestrian access. Papcastle Bridge near Cockermouth, the closest road river crossing which involved a long detour, became a bottleneck with long delays for traffic in both directions. Many agencies worked hard to improve the situation and within ten days a temporary station had been built and a free train shuttle service instigated to make use of the remaining bridge. The army erected a footbridge in early December and provision was made for a shuttle bus between settlements on the north of the river, the new station and the footbridge. Thus, between December and April, there was an unusual situation with car journeys between the north and south of the area necessitating a long detour with considerable delays, while the half-hourly train service was free to use and pedestrian access was relatively easy. Cumbria County Council commissioned the Institute of Transport and Tourism of University of Central Lancashire to research the impact this had made on people’s travel. A household survey gave data on 435 people’s travel patterns for typical weeks in October 2009, before the floods, March 2010 while road access was difficult and May 2010 once the temporary road bridge had been opened. The survey found that the number of trips for all purposes had reduced in March and although it had risen again in May, it had not reached the previous levels. Leisure and social trips were the most reduced, partly because of the extra time needed for other travel. Shopping trips reduced and often changed destination and work trips showed most propensity for mode change. Although respondents’ car trips fell by nearly a half, the majority of trips were still made by car. Train travel increased by over 500% and although it dropped in May there were still more trips made by train in May than in October. The consequences of the new travel situation ranged from enjoying the physical exercise and sociability of walking across the temporary foot bridge to feelings of isolation, worry about elderly relations on the other side of the river and, for some, the loss of a job or earnings and severe stress. Household duties could be re-allocated to accommodate different schedules and longer travel times. Most respondents recognised the efforts made by Cumbria County Council and other agencies, although officers themselves worried about the impact of the emergency on other aspects of their responsibilities. Interviews with key stakeholders demonstrated how it was not just travellers adjusting to a new geography around Workington. Several employers redeployed staff so they could work on the side of the river where they lived to avoid a long commute. Services were provided in the north of the area: supermarket, mobile bank, doctors’ surgeries, while other public services (Police, Fire and Ambulance Services) re-aligned their administrative boundaries or practices to adjust to the new situation. The findings suggest there is an ability to change travel patterns when circumstances change, but there remains a high car dependence, even when the alternatives are cheaper and more convenient

People largely perceive local government communications about COVID-19 as embodying greater honesty, credibility, and empathy than those of the UK government

Dominic Abrams, Jo Broadwood, Fanny Lalot, and Kaya Davies Hayon present the findings of research examining whether people from across the UK found communication about COVID-19 honest and credible, empathic, clear, accessible, and whether it met the needs of their community. They find that both UK and local government communications were perceived on average as fairly clear and as using understandable language, but that significant differences exist on other measures