NRW bosses face questions over imminent visitor centre closures

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00:00There's been a lot of public concern regarding those. We've had two petitions and a debate

00:06in the chamber regarding those. So the case for change is regarding the retail and catering

00:15facilities of the visitor centres, you know, being maybe managed by somebody else. But

00:21there is concern regarding closure, so there's not a seamless transfer over to any interested

00:28parties. So can you give a timeline for the public tender process for the interested parties

00:36at Montearen and Coeur d'Ivrene? How long do you anticipate the facilities will be closed

00:42as well after March? So if you could start with that answer, please.

00:48Just a quick one. For us, it's a difficult decision. But as part of the budget challenge,

00:55this is a lower priority on some of the things we've just been talking about. These forests

01:00and places are not being closed. Let's be clear about that. Absolutely not being closed.

01:05What is being looked at is the closure of cafe facilities and shops, which actually

01:11we've been running. It costs about near enough a million pounds a year it's been costing

01:14us to do them. So we're looking for other partners, if they wish, to take some of those

01:18facilities over. But other facilities will still be available. Forests are still there,

01:23etc. etc. So that's the only issue we're talking about. We have had to wait for some

01:28legal reasons to actually stop the facilities and then start the tender operations. We hope

01:34to move to a position in the next few months to actually, and we've had already one, I

01:38think one procedure closed. We've got one applicant looking forward to one place. And

01:44we hope to do that move as fast as we can on that. So we appreciate the feelings are

01:48about it, etc. etc. But one has to say that we weren't doing massive business in these

01:53shops and cafes. They were a big loss maker. And then given the challenge of the budget,

02:00we had to look very seriously at those. I understand that. But people that would like

02:03to run it, they feel they could run it well. And they'd hoped that they would be able to

02:07take over quicker. So it would be seamless and they wouldn't close. And especially with

02:12spring coming and summer, you know, they're very important facilities for tourism, for

02:17people that go and stay there. So that, you know, that's a really big concern to them.

02:24And do you want to respond? Yes, yeah, I was gonna say so. So we've had,

02:29as you know, a number of public meetings to, you know, keep people up to speed about the

02:34timeline and what we're looking at. In the meantime, we are at the moment on our website,

02:41there's the opportunity for people to express an interest in the interim period, which is

02:45around concessions, you know, a coffee stand in facilities, the same in Anneslas,

02:53Coy de Brenin and Nanterarion. So that, you know, we're not sort of losing customers,

02:59if you like, before the opportunity arises for people to take them on in the longer term.

03:04I think the thing that we want to have that conversation with interested parties is exactly

03:12what do they want to take on? Is it just the coffee and retail? Or do they want to go beyond

03:16that? And it's allowing people really that time to think about what is the business that they

03:21would like to run from that facility, rather than just being, you know, we're stopping coffee and

03:27retail, and that's all that's on offer. So we will have these concession stands in the interim

03:33period. And then as Sir David has said, you know, sort of early in the next financial year,

03:39sometime in April, we'll start to go out then and have these conversations about what is it

03:44that people are interested in doing on these facilities. Julie just wanted to come in briefly.

03:50I think, I don't know, one of you said just a cafe. But I mean, that is so important for people,

03:55for example, disabled people who visit the site. That is much more than a cafe and a building,

04:02you know, isn't it? It makes it opens access to a whole load of people who wouldn't go there

04:07unless they knew there was somewhere to go inside, or there were toilets available.

04:13So I just wanted to stress that really. Okay, and toilets, and all of the other

04:18facilities will absolutely be open. So the trails, the walks, the mountain biking,

04:24the toilets, you know, they will all be continue to be open as they are at the moment.

04:29Okay, so I visited Innes last on behalf of the petitions committee. And they just have a coffee

04:36pot. Anyway, it's not really it's not catering there. But it is a really important center for

04:41nature conservation. Yes. And the catering staff, you know, they actually do a lot of things like,

04:51you know, regarding managing the site. So if the boardwalk collapses, they fix it.

04:56They look after the wildlife that there's a red list protected ring clover,

05:03clover, the advise visiting public of dangers to life, because it's a red flag status there

05:09with the changing tide on the estuary. And so really concerned there because they're not,

05:16they're not actually catering staff. So and it's a different type of center as well. So if

05:22nature and climate change is a priority, this the really concerned about this particular education

05:28center. And that's really important for conservation in nature will will be will be

05:35closed. I believe that there'll be one member of staff possibly there is, you know, on site,

05:41but it won't, it won't be doing any, I'm not sure we'll be doing any work there. So just concern

05:45regarding that. And my other question is regarding car parking charges. So we believe that there

05:54would have been a good business case, if car parking had been managed properly, you'd have

05:58had a decent income from it. Very concerned if you're bringing in an outside company, like NPS,

06:06or wherever they are, you know, that will charge and then keep the revenue for managing it.

06:13And I believe that those that will have to take over running of them, if they could keep some of

06:18that revenue from car parking, as part of their sustainability going forward to help manage it,

06:25you know, it would be much better. So just wanted to make that point to you.

06:30Yeah, okay. So on NSLAS, it is a completely different site to the other two, you know,

06:35it's part of the Derby Biosphere, it's a really important it's an NNR, and we will have, you know,

06:40our land management staff will be there, looking after that as a national nature reserve. So those

06:47activities that are needed to, you know, sort of keep the status of that will continue

06:54through our land management teams. We have an opportunity that is just closed at the end of

07:03January for a community interest group to work with us with regard to NSLAS to use that community

07:10as a community space. And we have had somebody interested in that. And we're working with them

07:16now about what that could look like going forward. And we have, you know, sort of on our website,

07:23expressions of interest available for managing the car park and also for the usual concession

07:29stand that's there usually it's an ice cream van. But, you know, there is that opportunity

07:36available at the moment for people to express an interest in. So we will be through different

07:43mechanisms trying to find ways through. But I think in terms of the importance of the nature

07:49reserve, that will be with our land management teams who will look after the nature reserve

07:54and what's required to keep it in the condition that it needs to be.

07:58So an outside company is going to be charging for car parking?

08:02We're just giving an undertaking that we're looking for expressions of interest. We'll talk to anybody

08:06who's got there from the community and bring all those issues into that conversation. So we're not

08:11rushing to a private sector supplier. We're actually looking at how the community organizations,

08:15what sort of package we could do, how that would work. So we're conscious of the importance of

08:19these things, but we've had to take the decision on priority. But we'll be very happy to talk about

08:23the issues you've raised in those conversations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

08:28Right, we'll move on. I've enjoyed.

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