§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for the years(a) 1979–80, (b) 1989–90 and (c) 1998–99, (i) the number of visitors to, (ii) the budget of and (iii) the spend per visitor at each national park. [141116]
§ Mr. MullinThe Government grant for each National Park in England and Wales was:
Park 1979–80 £000 1989–90 £000 1998–99 £000 1994 visitorsurvey1 Million Brecon Beacons 297 818 1,942 3.7 Broads1 — 900 1,500 5.4 Dartmoor 399 1,117 1,942 3.8 Exmoor 262 916 1,607 1.4 Lake District 709 1,742 2,836 13.9 Northumberland 251 560 1,184 1.4 North York Moors 370 1,112 2,179 7.8 Peak District 909 2,462 4,060 12.4 Pembrokeshire 323 989 2,098 4.7 Snowdonia 431 1,311 2,654 6.6 Yorkshire Dales 449 1,155 2,104 8.3 Total 5,1543 13,082 24,106 69.4 1'Visitors to National Parks', Countryside Commission, 1996, ISBN 086170 46812 Broads Authority created in 1988. 3Includes a separate publicity budget for all Parks of £754,000 The grant figures do not include local authority contributions to Park Authorities (usually one-third of Government grant) or other sources of finance, e.g. EU funding.
The visitor figures come from the only national survey for all parks, which was produced in 1994. The totals for the Peak District, Lake District and Snowdonia are considered to be substantial under-estimates. A new national survey of park visitors is expected in the next UK Day Visits Survey, which is due to be undertaken in 2001. A number of Park Authorities carry out their own regular surveys, but that information is not held centrally. It is therefore not possible to produce a comparison of Park Authority spend per visitor.