AIBU to expect people to stay away from our AONB?

[Llig]

I live in the North East, a village within an area of outstanding natural beauty. AIBU to want people to stay away for the time being?

People need exercise for sure, totally agree with that. But the swarms of people descending on us right now is an absolute joke. As a village we have (mostly) followed all government guidance, particularly as we have a lot of elderly residents who are at hig risk. Since the rules have been slightly relaxed, our village feels overrun. No social distancing measures by these visitors either. A friend even caught a bloke weeing behind the public toilets as they're currently locked. What is wrong with people?

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

goodbye, I didn’t say it was MY area but if people are going to visit they must treat the area with respect and not leave large quantities of litter behind.

It’s always busy at weekends and holidays and some inconsiderate folk leave litter but I have never seen it as bad as it was today.

Perhaps you have a less selfish day tripper visiting your beach.

@longwayoff Hundreds of flights a week still bringing in thousands of passengers to Heathrow, no checks on arrivals Do you have evidence for this or is it just what you saw somewhere on the internet? I ask because as a worker in the aviation industry who passed through Heathrow this week I think you don’t know what you are talking about.

We don’t really have a slightly younger generation goodbyestranger Our older residents need to go out walking to stay healthy. They don’t drive usually now, so no option to travel out of the village to exercise. Why on earth should they be forced to stay inside losing core strength and balance, living in isolation when they can walk a few miles?
It’s not the average hiker that is a problem. They are very welcome. It’s the several families together ( or groups of early retired) coming, parking, breaking seal on benches, dropping litter, and sitting around not exercising much at all that create the increased risk.

Hi @backinthebox, I refer you to today's lead story in the beloved Daily Mail. Although it's unreliable in many matters, as it spends so much effort supporting this government generally I suggest it's broadly correct in this criticism. Take it up with them.

Unfortunately they government have said people can travel for their unlimited exercise and fresh air, so they are also sticking to the guidelines. I think the advice should have given a radius. Then the bottleneck places at least would have some respite.

AONB belong to all of us. Some of you just happen to have bought a house near one.

It seems some people are co-opting whole swathes of their own "elderly folk" to populate their personal AONBs

Do you stuff them and wheel them out on high days and holidays @CherryPavlova ?

I think that people wanting the countryside and coastal areas to remain closed abu.
Like millions of others, as a responsible and compliant citizen I have obeyed the law and remained for exercise within walking distance of my house for 7 weeks. Now, as a responsible and compliant citizen I think I am being reasonable to take my exercise where and when the law allows.

If I had ignored the earlier ruling to stay home people in coastal areas ext would have had good cause to complain.
I traveled 10 miles on Thursday to a coastal area where I have gone every week for the last 50 years. Where I spend my money on lunches, ices,drinks, fish and chips ext ext and where, a bit further up the North East coast I take two holidays a year. Most people want to find a car park away from the town/village enjoy a walk on a wide beach, socially isolating then go home.
When we set out on our short journey on Thursday, knowing the area well,we intended to use a large car park with no town/village anywhere near. Literally a car park with nothing but beach and dunes surrounding it.
What did we find when we got there? Car park locked up despite the PM's clear instruction that such journeys and exercise were lawful.
Knowing the place well we found somewhere else to park but it is no surprise if others, going about their lawful business, end up parking in a nearby village. Even then they would be socially distancing on a wide beach not walking village streets which are closed to business.

Another complaint has been that if we took ill we would be using 'their' nhs facilities. In my case, I would be carted off to the same hospital I would have been sent to if I had stayed at home. I don't consider city hospitals ext somehow 'mine' and if people flying in from all over the globe need treatment so be it.
My biggest disappointment is when I hear that people shouldn't go to the beach because the area is home to loads of older people. Many nhs and care home staff travel daily into the area to work even going from house to house to care for the elderly. They risk their own health and risk taking germs back to their families. Do village people think that all the nhs workers, postmen, food delivery people, bin men ext ext come from small germ free villages? Apparently its ok for them to bring their city germs with them when they are serving the local community.
After long tiring days at work they have made do with local exercise in compliance with the law, yet they find that now they can lawfully take a break somewhere pleasant on their day off they are potentially a germ risk on wide open beaches because they are town dwellers.

I think Boris would have been wiser saying we could all now travel to exercise up to 20 miles away rather than people travelling all over the place but there you are. Let's not just clap for workers who serve our communities. Let's stop resenting them 'encroaching' on beach and other areas which belong to us all.

I think this is incredibly selfish OP. Us city dwellers have been cooped up for 2 months and now have the freedom to go out. Blame the government and not us. I’m looking forward to having s country walk tomorrow at last. And by the way, the R is likely less in my city than it is in your countryside.

I think there should have been a restriction of distance.
This is why Cumbria and Lancaster are so high in the table of counties because lots of people went to Windermere the weekend before lockdown. The north news showed it looking like a bank holiday weekend. There was also a lot of people Fell walking. Currently they are asking people to stay away. The problem is that if anyone gets lost or falls it means bringing out the mountain rescue and tying up ambulances that maybe needed . The local people in the villages need to be safe. Some villages have a high number of elderly. There are farmers to consider too. People in cities don’t realise how long farmers keep working. Some are in the seventies and eighties. I have a connection with one of the Lake District villages and there are a high proportion of older people living and working there.

We’ve had a higher amount of people too and I don’t mind as long as they take their rubbish home and keep their dogs on leads instead of thinking it is funny to watch their dogs chasing the cows in calf. We have quite a lot of elderly and shielding people too. We’ve been looking after each other with emails, apps and a village Facebook page as well as a leaflet drop and good old fashioned checking on people. Collecting prescriptions and doing shopping, looking out for gluten free flour and yeast and purchasing and giving sanitizers to local carers and NHS staff. Baking and making meals for vulnerable people.
I think this is what the OP is concerned about that others may not be careful and villages might lose their lives through thoughtlessness.

I can appreciate that if you are living with kids in a high rise flat that you might want to get out somewhere for a walk. We just all need to be considerate of each other.

If I lived and worked in an area that partially relied on tourism for an income I'd be breaking my neck to open up right now. I'd make sure every carpark, cafe and bog was open and ready to take every penny, put a big smile on my face and make sure social distancing could be applied to my business.

The UK tourist industry will never get another chance to capture the market off 66 million people who can't just get on a plane.

Social distancing is entirely possible outside or on a beach or up a hill. Make the most of it.

We live in Dorset.
Today my DH drove 15 minutes to Portland for a bike ride... not really beautiful due to industry, but is high up and has some beautiful views of the sea.
A few people there, not vast quantities but all the car parks were closed so people had parked on gravel verges, not obstructing traffic and they were observing social distancing. What was disappointing and frankly mean was that there were 2 traffic wardens walking along slapping parking tickets on each and every vehicle there.
These were not tourists from far away, they were locals like my DH.

Completely agree with you Frouby

@longwayoff I don’t read the Mail but I can refer you to the Heathrow Notams (NOtices To AirMen) which as of this week require any aircraft arriving into Heathrow to make a declaration of the good health at the time of arrival of all on board the aircraft. Failure to make that declaration will mean that Port Health will meet the aircraft. I can not deny that we did have flights coming into Heathrow not that long ago without checks, and I was at the front of the queue to question the sense behind this, but it is not the case now. Regarding the ‘hundreds of flights carrying thousands of passengers’ I have covered this elsewhere. It is simply not true. I am not able to give exact numbers but I have access to the numbers of flights and passengers on the main airline operating into and out of Heathrow on a daily basis, and your figures are incorrect.

I stand torn between wanting to do whatever it takes to keep covid19 under control and ensuring my own livelihood in air transport. I would love to see both more passengers and also none at all. Atm it is tending (with the exception of a few flights daily) towards the ‘none at all’ end of the spectrum. It is a fallacy propagated by a sensationalist press who need to sell a story that passengers are still flooding in large numbers unchecked into Britain.

This is a local shop for local people - we'll have no trouble here.

this made me Laugh it really reminds me of the league of gentlemen. There's nothing for you here
In regard to original post I am constantly astounded at those who think they live somewhere so therefore own them area and don't want us townies infecting your area with out COVIDY germs. You don't own it anyone can go there..personally I wouldn't travel somewhere like this as I know we aren't wanted and I cannot be bothered to do that.
There's hardly any risk outside so people need to chill

@backinthebox. I've given you the reference, take it up with the publication. Or put the radio on. Talking about it on LBC right now.

As a rural, AONB-dwelling punter, I wish to God I could use exercise as an excuse to drive into a city. I'm sick to death of the offerings of the one supermarket here, and I need paint. I'll happily do an exchange day out.

You're not being unreasonable. I live in a world heritage site, low infection rates etc. Now tons of selfish arses are descending on the village and ignoring social distancing. I wish they'd fuck off.

It's not funny when you live in a rural area and can't risk going out because of idiots coming in from outside, crowding the place and not giving a fuck about anyone who lives here.

It was a gorgeous day outside today and I had to stay in my home to avoid the twats that came and made no effort to distance themselves appropriately. I'm on the vulnerable list.

If you're thinking if traveling to a rural area without a care in the world, don't bother.

We live somewhere people like to visit. It's been really busy since lockdown was relaxed. The people who are coming here probably haven't seen fields and the beautiful river for ages. The area doesn't belong to us, it's there for everyone to enjoy and the reality is that we can go out when the visitors have gone, inconvenient as that might be.

My DD has been stuck in a tiny city centre flat since the start of lockdown. Why shouldn't people like her enjoy the fresh air and scenery elsewhere now?

I do wish people would take their litter home though.

As a rural, AONB-dwelling punter, I wish to God I could use exercise as an excuse to drive into a city. I'm sick to death of the offerings of the one supermarket here, and I need paint. I'll happily do an exchange day out.

You can come to the city I think...someone will correct me if I am wrong. Why not go for an urban walk, and if the shops are on your way..

This is why Cumbria and Lancaster are so high in the table of counties because lots of people went to Windermere the weekend before lockdown.

It isn't that simple - Cumbria has areas of really high infection, with Barrow being the highest infection rate in the country. A place that have very low tourism levels. What it does have is a shipyard that has remained operational through out this. The security measures on site require all 1500 employees to pass through 4 push through turnstiles as they clock on and off. This means that they get touched 750 times each and every day.... If the person at the head of the queue is infected they have the potential to infect 749 colleagues simply because they had to go through the turnstile

The other hot spots are South Lakeland and this may have been caused by tourists, but it also an area where people commute to Lancaster, Preston and Manchester to work - usually by train which are difficult to socially distance on ( I use it regularly) and travelling through major hub stations. It would be interesting to see how infection rates responded to people starting to wfh / furloughed.

Carlisle - again not a traditional tourist place. Certainly not for walkers.

For the walkers / exercise tourist spreading the infection theory to work you would have to see a big spike in Allerdale around the northern honeypots (Keswick, Coniston etc) - but their infection rates are broadly similar to other predominantly rural areas and lower than urban areas.

I live in a walking / cycling area where we had a really high infection rate, car visitors shot up and remain high because we are an easy drive / good distance cycle from both Manchester & Sheffield. However the infection rate has plummeted because we aren't travelling into work by train because Northern started a Sunday service and less. We simply could not use it to get into town to get to work and do a full day's work and get home again.

Yes visitors have the potential to drive infection rates but there are other transmission vectors that are more common, even in "walking areas". eg local people travelling to a nearby "large" supermarket or simply going to work and bringing it back to their local community.

We are lucky and have a number of people who work in virus transmission and live in the village so have credible community members who have been able to drive home the message that you must act like you are infectious. Not so much someone will infect you (they will) but you have the potential to infect everyone else even if you feel fine and never catch it - you may have touched something and then touched something else.

As a rural, AONB-dwelling punter, I wish to God I could use exercise as an excuse to drive into a city. I'm sick to death of the offerings of the one supermarket here, and I need paint. I'll happily do an exchange day out

You can drive where you like now, if DIY shops are open, which they are, you can buy paint. You can drive to the city.

I agree with shining star

For those of us who have stuck to the rules of staying at home for weeks

We are now sticking to the next set of rules which are unlimited exercise & can travel to do this

What annoyed me was the news story about people running marathon distances during the lockdown. They seemed to think that the 1 hour of daily local exercise didnt apply to them !

You can drive where you like now, if DIY shops are open, which they are, you can buy paint. You can drive to the city.

From the username I think that pp is in Wales, so still subject to travel restrictions.