A recent article from The Northern Echo sets our the case for a visit to Craster ‘beating’ Bamburgh, though both are listed as beautiful settings on the Northumberland Coast.
However, the reason behind Bamburgh being beaten is perhaps a warning sign of what Northumberland risks; if we depend on car based tourism like the Lake District has, but there is an alternative lying in wait.
However, arguably a reason behind Bamburgh losing prime position was the heavy traffic and car parking challenges as mentioned in the article; car dependent tourism risks ruining the Northumberland Coast if not tackled NOW.
This is perhaps a clear warning sign that Northumberland, in pursuit of tourism will risk damaging the landscape and especially the ‘Ancient Kingdom’ area between Berwick and Alnmouth by chasing car dependent tourism, when using the already good public transport networks, and making them better could bring the same value of tourism WITHOUT cars, therefore WITHOUT the congestion or parking woes, and WITHOUT damaging our beautiful county.
Even for larger towns such as Alnwick, Amble, or Berwick, car based tourism is a major issue causing huge congestion, packed car parks, and certainly loses some of that ‘quaint and charming Northumberland market town’ with near London levels of traffic at peak times.
The Lake District has arguably been spoilt in some ways by reliance on car based tourism; the inconsiderate parking that blocks emergency vehicle access, chews up verges and fields, and cars blocking residents driveways are common issues seen time and again (see articles below as just two examples).
Northumberland could learn the lessons from the Lakes, and implement them before it is too late, but will we?
Will we see Northumberland farmers coming across cars parked in their fields? Will we see problem parking like at Gatesgarth in Northumberland too?
Or will we see Northumberland do it better, and make visiting this great county easier WITHOUT a car at all?
Car dependent tourism is damaging Northumberland? ‘They paved paradise, and put a parking lot…’
Northumberland has recently passed a milestone of eleven million tourists, as explored in a different article by The Northern Echo, which has a strong focus on dualling of the A1 to handle tourist traffic, especially along the coast, but this is arguably working destructively; as seen above, the reliance on tourists coming by car is making villages like Bamburgh bustling, but is undoing its own attractiveness in the process.
Bring the millions of tourists to Northumberland by rail, not road, and reap rewards WITHOUT the ruin?
Instead of a blind, or blinkered focus on the A1 being ‘the’ way for tourists to come here with a car, why don’t we look at the clear alternative staring us in the face?
Given a suitable alternative to driving, many tourists would probably love to ditch the car anyway; a pint in our lovely local pubs with no risk of drink driving or being landed as the designated driver is surely an appealing prospect to both punters and publicans? A train, bus or both out along the coast to walk or cycle back, or vice versa again a potentially major untapped market in the county?
Please note that this blog post represents my own personal views, and not those of CRAG or Stuart Jones of First Group/LUMO in any way.
Sitting quite literally between the A1 and the Northumberland Coast, right from the Tweed to the Tyne is the East Coast Main Line (ECML), with the Northumberland Line between the ECML and the coast in the area between the Rivers Lyne and Tyne.
Therefore, the Northumberland Coast is amply well rail served; a driver coming up, or down the A1 must cross the ECML or the Northumberland Line at some point to reach the coast, so why not use these railways to bring people here without cars?
£20m assets x 4 sitting underused on the ECML, solved with a timetable tweak or two?
Stations like Berwick, Alnmouth, and Morpeth are already well used by many tourists, but more could be done to drive up the number of tourists coming to Northumberland by rail; stations like Chathill for example is very poorly served at present, and with even a modest service uplift of just a few trains per day, would likely see HUGE growth in usage if more trains called there.
In Northumberland, we have several small stations between Berwick and Morpeth; Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington, and Pegswood, which to build new would cost around £20m each, so represent together about £80m worth of infrastructure served at most twice per day, 6 days a week.
Getting even a slightly better service at these stations; more trains per day, seven days a week would make a huge difference for comparatively little cost.
As set out by CRAG recently, a few tweaks to the ECML timetable could allow some services that currently roar through the station to slow down, stop, and allow passengers to use the station throughout the day; sadly that idea at present has been rebuffed by the rail industry, but maybe the idea can be given serious consideration and expanded across the many stations in Northumberland.
Once train services are fixed, then the buses can be co-ordinated with the rail services calling at the stations.
More boldly than this, is to use the Northumberland Coast Loop route for passengers, which would run from Newcastle to Berwick via Blyth, then using the link line via Hepscott reconnect onto the ECML headed north; thus giving a link almost the full length of the coast from Blyth to Berwick, and via a change at Northumberland Park onto the Tyne and Wear Metro, a link from Tweedmouth to Tynemouth!
These links would be useful for both residents and tourists alike, and if ‘Mayors Fares’ like the Northumberland Line can be rolled out the full length of the Northumberland Coast, then all the better!
Lets hope that our councillors will take the leap of faith and put more energy into developing the rail network in Northumberland to meet the challenges of eleven million or more tourists, and not rely on roads and car dependency.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 