Wealden Heath SPA Visitor Survey 2023 - AWARD

The town of Whitehill & Bordon, in Hampshire, is undergoing major transformation to become a green town. The town is within 5km of the Wealden Heath Phase II Special Protection Area (SPA) and Shortheath Common Special Area of Conservation (SAC). To mitigate any likely significant effects of the town's expansion and regeneration on the integrity of the SPA, SAC and other countryside sites, two Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANG) and a series of Strategic Access Management and Monitoring (SAMM) measures have been established. The monitoring element of this requirement includes a need to survey public use of the SPA & SAC sites. A project wide visitor survey covering 41 points was completed in 2021. The survey included footfall counts and questionaries' carried out over a number of months. The project is in the process of establishing footfall counters at seven locations across the SPA/SAC sites. We wish to carry out visitor surveys at these points to validate the count data and provide an update to the original 2021 Visitor survey.