The importance of your business’s social value: access
Coinciding with the release of the CLA member social value survey, we discuss how data from the access you provide benefits your local community and rural economy as a whole
The third topic covered by the ongoing social value survey is providing access to your land. These questions will help us to demonstrate the value of landowners providing permissive access to their land, or going beyond their statutory duty to improve the experience for users of public rights of way.
Providing access could mean that you give permissive access to everyone, have an agreement with a local group allowing them to use your land or that you engage with social prescribers to allow access. It could also include spending your own money to facilitate the use of rights of way, for example by providing maps, guidance, or signage to visitors.
If you provide infrastructure to support visitors, such as toilets or car parks, or undertake activities to keep your land clean and tidy, we want to hear about it in this section of the survey. Please do not include activities for which you receive a subsidy from central or local government.
For each activity that you undertake, you will be asked to give a brief description and estimate the number of people who benefit from it each year. You will also be asked to estimate the number of days you or your employees spend supporting access, and the financial cost you incur as a result.
All responses will be aggregated, and the total economic and social benefits will be estimated, but all are worthwhile figures to consider when calculating the social value of your rural business.
If you have any questions about completing the survey or the project in general, please contact Bethany Turner on 020 7460 7978 or bethany.turner@cla.org.uk.