When proposals to revamp parking, provision in Snowdonia National Park were launched in 2002, there was such an outcry that the plan had to be ditched. The protests centred on plans to cut the total amount of parking available at Snowdonia's "honeypot" areas, which attract the greatest amount of tourists in peak times and siphon visitors onto park-and-ride buses departing from strategic points around the park. A subsequent review of the proposals, led by Cardiff-based RPS Consultants, concluded there was no justification for the park-and-ride scheme - at least nowhere near the scale proposed. The historic level of parking should be "retained", RPS's said, and the overspill even accommodated in a bid to reduce the particular problem of cars spilling out from overcrowded car parks, onto road verges or pavements. As well as being an eyesore, verge parking in Snowdonia and other national parks causes extensive damage, for which someone has to foot the bill.
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