Country park masterplans – PSC has worked on a number of exciting and challenging country park masterplanning projects for a range of clients from Hampshire County Council through to Buckinghamshire County Council. Some of the country park masterplanning projects are for new proposed country parks and others for existing country parks, where there is a need to reinvest in the ‘visitor experience’ to maintain the country park’s competitive position, increase visitor numbers and income generated.
What are some of the key steps involved in producing a masterplan for country parks?
- Site assessment (identifying specific site constraints and opportunities)
- Operational review (to understand the current operation – what works well, what doesn’t work so well)
- Market review (including the demographic profile and wider trends impacting on the country park sector)
- Identifying the competitive landscape (you don’t want to replicate what your competitors are up to)
- Consultation (with staff, stakeholders, visitors and missed audiences)
- Bench marking – case studies (helping to identify what works well in the market place and the challenges which other country parks have had to overcome)
- Developing and evaluating the concept (options appraisal including identifying capital costs and funding opportunities and supporting concept sketches)
- Staffing and governance models (staffing resource implications are identified and it is also important to consider who will manage the country park managed by the Council, Trust, or CIC or specialist third party commercial operator)
- Financial assessment (developing a trading profile including carrying out a risk assessment)
Have a quick look at some of the country park projects we have worked on.
How can we help?
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call or email Richard Linington on richard@pslplan.co.uk or 023 9248 1999