OPINIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLAND AND WALES HERITAGE COAST BEACH USERS - SOME MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS FROM THE GLAMORGAN HERITAGE COAST, WALES

Beach users at four intensively zoned ''honeypot'' areas at the Glamor gan Heritage Coast (GHC), Wales, were questioned with regard to their opinions and perceptions of the beach environment. These were assessed in the light of scoring on anxiety state/trait characteristics and re sponses to the Eysenck Personality Inventory of the interviewees. Nash Point beach tended to have older, more introverted beach users (p < 0 .05, apparently attracted to an uncommercialized beach to enjoy wildli fe, scenery and solitude. In contrast, Southerndown appealed to the yo unger, more extrovert beach user (p < 0.05), who perceived this beach to be safer and better for swimming. The level of refreshment and othe r facilities provided at Llantwit was well-appreciated by beach users (p < 0.05). Water quality was perceived to be worse at Ogmore than at other study beaches, and it was considered that the presence of beach letter and a potential pollution source in the form of a nearby sewage treatment works, may have contributed to this perception. A close lin k (p = 0.000) was suggested between water quality and beach suitabilit y for swimming. The opinion of the Countryside Commission (whose role in Wales was taken over by the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) in 1991) that all intensively used Heritage Coast beaches should be ident ified as bathing beaches within the meaning of the EC Bathing Waters D irective was judged to have been supported by the study results. GHC a wareness amongst adults (n = 197), was 74%, with notable differences e xisting between beaches. Few changes should be made to the general lev el of facilities at the study beaches, but a number of management reco mmendations (e.g. increasing Heritage Coast awareness, improving signp osting, litter clearance) are suggested.