National Park Ban for non local people?

Giraffe · Mar 23, 2020

One of the emergency measures apparently being considered is whether to ban non locals from the National Parks, including South Downs. Not sure how this would work in practice given the vastness of it, but will it will be back to the war days of "papers please" for a quick postcode check?

hans kraay fan club · Mar 23, 2020

Giraffe said:
One of the emergency measures apparently being considered is whether to ban non locals from the National Parks, including South Downs. Not sure how this would work in practice given the vastness of it, but will it will be back to the war days of "papers please" for a quick postcode check?

ANPR cameras can read thousands of plates an hour, and road tax / log is linked to a home address...

(Its not foolproof, and of course there would be lots of exceptions, but they could use it as an initial reason to stop and check you)

drew · Mar 23, 2020

Another difficulty is defining local people unless it means only those living within the boundaries of the national park!

Notters · Mar 23, 2020

Seems a bit OTT. The main problem is everyone congregating in the same honeypots (Snowdon, Ditchling Beacon, Malham, etc.), which is normally encouraged by the National Parks, but most of the area is empty.

Bodian · Mar 23, 2020

Close all the rights of way, like we did during Foot & Mouth. The Government said that would never happen again, because of the damage it did to the rural economy. But now all the cafes, tea-shops, activity centres, and so on are shut anyway - that will no longer be a factor. If there's nowhere to walk, no parks and gardens to visit, and nowhere to have a cup of tea, no-one will visit.

beorhthelm · Mar 23, 2020

if people could just be grown up and not go in groups, it wouldnt need such things discussed. we ask if the PM is doing a good job, need to ask if the public are doing a good job. so far its turns out too many are child like and need to be told explictly what to do.

Theatre of Trees · Mar 23, 2020

Bodian said:
Close all the rights of way, like we did during Foot & Mouth. The Government said that would never happen again, because of the damage it did to the rural economy. But now all the cafes, tea-shops, activity centres, and so on are shut anyway - that will no longer be a factor. If there's nowhere to walk, no parks and gardens to visit, and nowhere to have a cup of tea, no-one will visit.

Disagree, there are plenty of places to walk without meeting many people, I did so yesterday in the Weald. As someone above states it is people congregating in the same areas - the South Downs Way is pretty much the M25 of footpaths but many of the ROW running off it are rarely travelled.

CheeseRolls · Mar 23, 2020

I think managing risks, is something a lot of people struggle with. You can do all the hand washing and distance keeping you like and still get infected. The key thing is that the chance of this happening is greatly reduced.

The problem isn't so much about too many people in national parks invading each others personal space, but the impact of moving from an infected area to a non-infected area. As isoltion starts to impact, what we should see is pockets of concentrated infection, which is where testing and treatment resources can be prioritised. What we don't need is a sudden outbreak in West Wittering (chosen specifically because they have closed the beach) bought in by people traveling from far and wide to take a walk on the beach. How can you possibly trace the source and the people they have come in contact with in those circumstances?

Bodian · Mar 23, 2020

Theatre of Trees said:
Disagree, there are plenty of places to walk without meeting many people, I did so yesterday in the Weald. As someone above states it is people congregating in the same areas - the South Downs Way is pretty much the M25 of footpaths but many of the ROW running off it are rarely travelled.

Sorry - didn't make myself clear. It wasn't a recommendation, it was in response to the question 'how would this work?'. ie - I was providing advice on how National Parks could be closed, not saying they should be.

e77 · Mar 23, 2020

I wold imagine medical facilities are broadly placed relative to population. Areas round National Parks are generally not that well populated so they can't really risk high infection levels of the virus.

Skuller · Mar 24, 2020

Theatre of Trees said:
Disagree, there are plenty of places to walk without meeting many people, I did so yesterday in the Weald. As someone above states it is people congregating in the same areas - the South Downs Way is pretty much the M25 of footpaths but many of the ROW running off it are rarely travelled.

I walked from Eastbourne to Seaford yesterday partially on the inland South Downs Way (SDW) route. I took the SDW to Jevington (not along Seven Sisters) and then local footpaths through Lullington Heath and Friston Forest. It was deserted: must have seen no more than ten people the whole way.

Bodian · Mar 24, 2020

Emergency regulations made in Wales, making it a duty on councils and National Parks to close footpaths/bridleways and access land that are liable to large numbers of people congregating or being in close proximity to each other, or the use of which otherwise poses a high risk to the incidence or spread of infection in its area with the coronavirus.

How you would assess and enforce this is another matter.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2020/334/made/data.pdf

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National Park Ban for non local people?

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