Abereiddy is stunning spot within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and the Blue Lagoon is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Over the past 10 years, Abereiddy has become very busy as an outdoor recreation destination. At times there have been as many as 14 minibusses, and more than 150 people coasteering on the busiest days. This growth of activity has caused conflict between activity providers, land owners and the National Trust who own and manage much of this part of the coast, and there has been a increase in emergency services called to the area for outdoor activity related accidents.

The Pembrokeshire Outdoor Charter group were asked to coordinate a series of meetings with all the local providers using the area, the landowers and other key stakeholders such as the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority who leese the management of the foreshore from the Crown Estate.

As a result of these ongoing meetings, a reasonable capacity for groups coasteering at the site has been agreed on, and a method for managing numbers was devised for companies wishing to take groups of paying customers there coasteering. The booking system for Abereiddy has now been set up with a view to ensuring that it doesn’t get too overcrowded by commercial coasteering groups, and that the wildlife and wildness of the area is protected.

Any company can sign up to use Abereiddy, (provided they are operating to high standards & suitably insured), however usage of the area for coasteering companies is now limited by voluntary agreement through the Outdoor Charter group to 75 people per half day. To ensure that numbers do not exceed the agreed capacity, the group have agreed to use an online booking system. There is a one off admin fee of £75 to get signed up to use the booking system, and then each booking for a group of up to 15 costs £11. This fee is for car parking for your group, and has been introduced by the landowners of the car park.

In addition, the National Trust own the lagoon, and have introduced a licence to ensure that companies operating coasteering activities there are accountable and safe.

If you are a company wishing to use Abereiddy as a venue for taking groups of paying customers out coasteering, you now need to do the following:

1)      Get a licence to use Abereiddy from the National Trust (contact andrew.tuddenham@nationalturst.org.uk ) This licence costs £50, and you will be required provide evidence of your public liability insurance, and agree to follow the minimum standard operating proceedures as agreed on by the National Coasteering Charter group which can be viewed here http://www.nationalwatersafety.org.uk/professional/advice/coasteering.asp 

2)      Become a Pembrokeshire Outdoor Charter member (it is currently free to join – send me an email tom.luddington@mhpa.co.uk). I will then give you advice about wildlife in the area, so that you know for example to avoid coasteering too far around the coast during seal pupping times etc. You will also get to hear about relevent environmental training events in the area.

3)      Get registered by Rachel Eyles (Landowner of the car park – contact rachel@petona.com) onto the online booking system for the car park. There is a one off admin fee of £75 to become registered. You can then get access to the online system to book up slots, and pay the £11 parking fee per session in advance to guarantee yourself slots for the coming year.