Produced in 1995 the Visitor Management Strategy for the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has been incorporated in the successive documents - 1998 AONB Management Strategy, 2004-09 Management Plan and now within the current 2009-14 plan. The 'VMS' as it was known is no longer available but reference copies can be viewed - please contact us for more information.
"The basic aims were as below:"
1. The Visitor Management Strategy offers policy guidance on how the many visitors to the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) can continue to enjoy its nationally important landscape and internationally important wildlife.
2. A new approach to managing tourism and recreation is presented, aiming to harness the benefits and ease the pressures that visitors bring to the AONB and its local communities.
3. Emphasis is placed on the need for a coastwide view of visitor management that is environmentally sustainable in the long term.
4. Several zones are identified, reflecting the varying sensitivity of the landscape and wildlife of the AONB. There are problems to be overcome in the threatened Red Zone, the delicate balance in the Orange Zones must be maintained, whilst there are new opportunities to develop quiet recreation and tourism in the Green Zones. (See the Visitor Management Zones Map)
5. Many pressures, particularly on wildlife, are caused unintentionally. Raising visitor awareness through improved information and interpretation has a major role to play in overcoming these pressures.
6. Encouraging people to explore the AONB by public transport, bicycle or on foot is seen as the best way of addressing traffic problems associated with the increasing numbers of visitors' cars.
7. Development of walking, cycling, birdwatching and other quiet ways of enjoying the special qualities of the AONB would cause few problems and help secure a healthy tourist industry in the long term.
8. More resources are needed to manage even the existing number of visitors to the Area. Opportunities to allow visitors to put something back into looking after the AONB need to be developed.
9. The Strategy was a non-statutory document which seeked to persuade all those managing visitors to implement policies and act in partnership, working with local people, to keep the AONB special for future generations to enjoy. Implementation of the policies was addressed through a rolling action plan.
