Norfolk Broads Futures

Dr Katy Appleton, University of East Anglia (Email)

Dr Appleton will examine the sustainability of different patterns of future recreational use of the Ant catchment of the Norfolk Broads.

This research programme aims to develop and assess ways to deliver sustainable, multifunctional landscapes in rural areas, particularly those with significant pressures from tourism and recreation.

Multifunctional landscapes fulfil a variety of objectives benefiting both humans and the wider environment, ranging from food and materials production to the provision of clean air and water. The Norfolk Broads is a unique and fragile landscape, truly multifunctional in providing wildlife habitat, recreational space, food and other materials, and
employment.

A combination of factors and drivers for land use change means that recreational and tourism use of the area is likely to grow, but development and land use change to support this must be carefully managed to keep the multiple functions of the landscape in balance and ensure sustainability. Using information from an existing project at the Broads Authority, in conjunction with the Broads sustainable tourism strategy and action plan, the potential for new tourism and recreation developments will be assessed using the Ant Valley as a case study. Relevant interest groups, such as the Broads Authority, landowners and local tourism bodies, will be consulted, a selection of example schemes will be devised, initial scenarios showing possible changes over the next 10 years will be formulated.

The likely effects of these scenarios will then be assessed. Measures of biodiversity and ecosystem function will be examined, including ways in which tourism and recreation developments could enhance them. The effects on the local rural economy, through visitor numbers and tourism spending, changes to farm incomes, and valuation of the changes to
ecosystem services, will also be examined. These sets of information will be combined to give an overview of the likely costs and benefits associated with the scenarios, and the resulting information will be presented back to stakeholders using computer-generated landscape images and other information. This will allow the assessment of the general acceptability of the example schemes and their various impacts to stakeholders, including visitors.
Assessment will also be made of the challenges associated with compiling the above information, and the limitations of existing methods will be investigated. Data and knowledge needs will be identfied and prioritised to assist future applications of the methodology in other Broads catchments and elsewhere.