It is greatly accessible by road with major motorways such as the M5 and M50 running down past Malvern with the A449 branching off and running straight through the middle of great Malvern; causing it to be easily found by tourists.
Great Malvern is dependant on the Malvern Hills and the Tourism they generate but this also generates intense visitor pressure causing a conflict of interests between different user groups of the hills and the conservation management. Visitor pressure is the amount of visitors that come to a place if there is a big visitor pressure then a lot of tourists visit this place and visa versa.
Collection of data and evidence
Environmental assessment – We were assigned a placement in Malvern in our pairs from where we would do our Traffic count and Pedestrian count. As soon as we got to our placement we began an environmental assessment in which we assessed the litter, vandalism and graffiti. We also assessed the pollution i.e. the smells of traffic fumes and noise pollution. Thirdly we assessed the quality of the shop fronts i.e. displays and painting of shop front. Finally we assessed the traffic- was the area quiet or busy with congestion including commercial Lorries. We also went back in the summer to the same spot in order to do our assessment again to see if due to seasonal changes there was a difference in our results. This assessment could be used in order to manage the town to see where traffic management was needed to ease congestion or more litter bins where needed or the ones that are already there needed emptying more often to reduce litter. It could also be used to see what maintenance needed doing on the shop fronts to make the town more appealing to tourists- the main source of income. We also did another environmental assessment when we walked up to the top of British Camp and every 100m up the path, 100m because we agreed that this was a suitable distance to measure, we assessed the litter, pollution i.e. smell, noise or traffic fumes. We also noted if there was any vegetation damage due to footfall of tourists not sticking to the paths. We also took note of the measure to control such things and the effectiveness of these controls. We went back in the summer and walked up Worcestershire Beacon another popular hill to see if there was a difference between the two hills we also climbed British Camp again to see if there was a seasonal change to our results. Theses results could raise some management issues that may need to be addressed i.e. restrictions of people walking on the hills, management of paths etc.
Traffic count – In pairs we counted the traffic going one way along the road that we were assigned to. We were all placed at different locations in the town to measure the difference in traffic density in the centre and on the outskirts of the town to see if there was a need for the Conservators to employ traffic management i.e. sleeping policemen or traffic wardens etc. We counted for a period of 10 minutes, as this was a suitable sample time agreed, once at 10:30am and secondly an hour later at 11:30am in order to compare our results at different times in the morning to measure if there was any signs of rush hours. We counted the traffic in three sections- 2-wheeled vehicles, 4 – wheeled vehicles that were either cars or small vans and finally buses or lorries. We also went back in the summer to do another traffic count to see whether a seasonal difference makes a difference to the traffic density because maybe the good weather and the fact that many people get time off work would attract more people to Malvern.
Pedestrian count – We counted pedestrians going both ways along our street where we were situated from the traffic count. We counted for a period of 10 minutes, as that was again the suitable sample time agreed, firstly at 10:40am and secondly an hour later at 11:40am. Again this is to determine if there is any and drastic change in the amount of pedestrians at those different times in the morning. Again we were all situated at different places in Malvern in order to see where in the town the pedestrian density is the highest and if it was where you expected in the middle of the town where all the shops were. When we went back in the summer we did another pedestrian count to see if there was a difference in our results therefore linking a seasonal change to the difference in the density of pedestrians in Malvern. This could be used to see when and where pedestrian management is needed the most i.e. pelican crossings etc.
Car park assessment – After the traffic and pedestrian count we walked around Malvern assessing the car parks. We assessed them on their capacity, their cost, the spaces that were occupied, the services they offered i.e. motorcycle spaces, disabled and finally the restrictions they imposed. We also noted the time and the location to see again if they had any affect on how full the car park was. Again we went back in the summer to see if there was a change in the amount of cars in car parks again linking it to a seasonal change. This information is valuable for car park management as they might need to employ traffic wardens to enforce restrictions put into place by the car park.
Roadside parking assessment- After we had assessed the car parks we assessed the parking alongside road. We noted them on the location, parking restrictions at this location, violations of these restrictions and the evidence of actions taken against these violations. We came back in the summer and assessed this again to compare our results with the ones on our earlier visit to see if there was a seasonal change in our results.
Data presentation analysis and interpretation
Physical attractions of the Malvern Area
The Malvern Hills are the Malvern area’s most popular physical attraction. The Malvern are a nine mile range of granite rock which in some places is as much as 650 million years old. Along this 8 mile ridge there are many different well known features of the hills such as the Iron Age fort at the Herefordshire Beacon also known as British Camp. Notice the indentations in the Beacon where the Iron Age fort used to be.
The ridge top provides ideal paths for walkers with the hills offering you 26 miles of easy to navigate paths on and around the hills with stunning views all around you. These paths have to be made and managed by the Conservators as without the paths tourists and ramblers would be left to make their own paths creating damage to the vegetation and eroding more than one path up the hill. In total there are 20 named hills comprising the 8 mile range, the three major hills in the range are Worcestershire Beacon, North Hill and Herefordshire Beacon with the tallest hill being Worcestershire (425m) a close second being North Hill (397m) and the third being Herefordshire (338m) already mentioned.
Although now the Malvern Hills and the surrounding commons are classed as an AONB and are protected by acts of Parliament years ago people used to exploit the stone in the hills. As a result of this there are a number of old quarries around the area which have long since been disused and are now part of the landscape. These need to be constantly managed by the Malvern Hills Conservators as a quarry can be a very hazardous place with its steep sides and deep lakes therefore warning signs and a perimeter fence will have needed to be put up and constant maintenance of these will have to be made sure.
Notice the lake formed from rainwater over years running off the hills and filling up the quarry. This has formed another feature of this areas outstanding natural beauty.
Earnslaw Quarry
Tourist facilities in the Malvern area
Great Malvern is a town that is built around tourism, as tourism is the town’s biggest income. The Malvern Conservators have managed Malvern making sure it has enough car parks for its capacity of visitor and making sure it has public toilets and a tourist information service in order to make sure that the tourists are satisfied and with their visit. There is also many litter bins everywhere to keep the town tidy in order for keep its appeal to tourists. If you notice that the main tourist areas will be predominantly in and around the centre of the town with the rectangle shaded in red being where most of the tourist facilities will be such as the bars, cafes and restaurants mainly aiming at the tourists. Also inside that rectangle there are nine Estate Agents obviously aiming there custom towards the tourists that like the town and that are maybe looking to buy a place in Great Malvern.
Also if you look at the map you see that all the facilities that would be more likely used by the locals are on the outskirts of the town such as your schools, colleges, libraries and your police stations. This is due to the management by the Conservators because if you are a tourist you are unlikely going to want to visit the outskirts of the town instead you are going to want to visit the centre of the town therefore all the tourist facilities and shops aimed at tourists will be strategically placed in the centre of the town for maximum exposure to the tourists.
This is a closer look at the red rectangle of the map above showing the individual buildings. This shows us the amount of buildings aimed at locals and amount aimed at tourists and visitors.
55%
45%
As you can see from the map and the pie chart there is a higher percentage of buildings aimed at tourists than there are aimed at locals. Also some of the buildings that are said to be aimed at the locals are used by many tourists, such as the big supermarket Waitrose.
There are also many other tourist attractions in Malvern such as the Morgan Motor Car Factory, which is the last wholly British owned carmaker in the country. This factory is now situated on Pickersleigh road in Great Malvern and still hand makes some of the finest cars to date. This Factory has been adapted for the tourists with tours being given Monday to Friday most weeks.
Another big tourist attraction is the famous Malvern Water. It is Britain’s oldest and best known water hence its title ‘The Original English Mineral Water’. This water comes from the Holy Well situated in Colwall and a factory is now built on it. Again this has been adapted to tourists with daily tours given around the factory.
The Malvern Museum is also another major tourist attraction is designed to give tourists an insight into Malvern’s fascinating history. It is situated in the Priory Gatehouse which in itself is more than 600 years old and its display tell you about the Malvern rocks which were formed over 600 million years ago and the old Iron Age hill forts. Each room has its own period of time from the medieval period right up to the World War 2.
The Malvern Priory Church at over 900 years old allows visitors to come and tour the church allowing them to see some of the finest medieval stained glass in the country.
How Much Traffic and How Many Visitors Were There?
These Tables show the data I collected from my car park assessment on both the 20th of June and the 25th of August when I went back for my extension work.