Tuesday, July 10, 2018
And Lord Clark of Windermere introduced a stinging attack on Richard Leafe, the chief executive of the National Park.
To quote Lord Clark, “We had 19m visitors last year and that was before World Heritage status was granted. Everyone is expecting 20m this year.”
“There were those who saw it as an opportunity to expand the tourism industry and I think there is a real danger with some of these ideas that we will end up wrecking the environment we set out to protect.”
“Within a few weeks of getting World Heritage status, an application went in for the Thirlmere zip wire and at the same time, there were Keswick businesses grumbling that the Christian Convention, which has been going for 150 years, was attracting the wrong type of visitors, meaning that they weren’t spending enough.”
“These people need to be reined back before we wreck the whole thing and we lose World Heritage status.”
“The national park director general was in favour of the Thirlmere zip wire and lobbied for it.”
“I’m worried that Richard Leafe personally is pushing too hard on tourism.”
Lord Clark’s is quiet worried as the National Park observed the anniversary of being awarded World Heritage status. It all happened just two weeks post consultation ended on ambitious plans to spread across the area in the coming 15 years.
The Local Plan Review, which comprises proposal for a cable car up to Whinlatter Visitor Centre and for tourism ‘showcase areas’ to be developed has been condemned by the Opens Spaces Society and Friends of the Lake District for being too focused on tourists to the detriment of the environment.
Tags: lake district, national park
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
