Author Topic: LDNPA Direction / Lakes development to 'sell' it as a product  (Read 1780 times)

forgotmyoldpassword

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1017

https://news.sky.com/story/lake-district-must-change-to-attract-more-diverse-visitors-11897034 - posted this morning.

"The head of the Lake District National Park Authority in Cumbria says the rugged landscape excludes too many people and must change to attract a more diverse mix of visitors." saying "We need to be able to sell the national park to everybody in Britain".


This has to be one of the 'smoking gun' quotes which show that the EO does not properly wish to understand the history of the area nor is sensitive to it.  A significant part of a national park's remit (as per https://nationalparks.uk/students/whatisanationalpark/aimsandpurposesofnationalparks )is to: 1. "conserve and enhance the national beauty of the area, wildlife and cultural heritage" - and 2. "promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the national parks by the public". 



Refusing to ban 4x4 routes over the fells, tarmac paths through woodland approved, zip line approved, Grasmere 'development' on the table - for them to no doubt wreck.  It's depressing and is damaging these areas which take hundreds and thousands of years to develop as they are - the reason it's a World Heritage site and a National Park is due to the habitats and the sense of space.  Trying to turn 'sell' the National Park to the public by looking at 'diversity group inclusion' as a metric goes directly against what the government's own National Park guidelines seem to state in respecting it as a cultural space.  It is about giving opportunities to all to visit, not in changing the functional character of the place to attract people who were previously not interested in the area.


With the Conservative manifesto including a line about turning wild camping into an illegal offence (through changing it from a civil offence to trespass into a criminal one) allows arrest and the confiscation of equipment - I'm more than sceptical as to where this hobby will go longer term, at least in England.
« Last Edit: 11:13:26, 29/12/19 by forgotmyoldpassword »

richardh1905

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12713
I despair - Why don't they just concrete the lot and be done with it?
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
If I personally want to try to make some kind of 'sense' about such matters I usually read the first few pages of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, his analysis about the history of Capitalism from Roman times. It just makes sense to me, "Oh yes, I can see why someone would want to make a profit from such a place!" the reasons and the capitalist logic are all there right in front of my eyes.

ninthace

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11822
I heard this story today and my flabber was gasted.  You will see very little lack of diversity at the tourist honeypots such as Bowness. and there are no exclusion signs on the park boundaries,
The "lack" of diversity stems from certain cultural and ethnic groups not having a tradition of exploring the countryside for leisure purposes.  This extends to all parts of the UK, not just to the NPs.
Solvitur Ambulando

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
The section I read starts with 'The history of----.' I then don't tend to read further on when a later paragraph starts with 'We see then.... . '

I think this historical explanation for me clearly identifies what you are highlighting about why some people may be thinking about the Lake District in this way, its capitalism at work.

This sentence of Karl Marx appeals to me about this particular subject,  'The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand....................!!!' I often find that if I substitute the word 'bourgeoise' and replace it with 'Donald Trump' or some other blatant and non-thinking Capitalist that I might think of, it then makes even more sense to me.  :)

harland

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1717
I am waiting for them to tarmac the route up Everest and put in oxygen refuelling stops every 50 yards so that I can get up there, it is discriminatory that I can't get up there currently as I am not fit enough.

andyapanel

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 92
I am sure if they had the money, they would flatten it, THEN concrete over it, THEN build a few super stores and garden centres, and maybe a drive through Macdonalds.
Accept folk are different and enjoy doing different leisure activities.
I am pretty sure whatever the folk who do not go hillwalking get up to for leisure would not interest me, but I am quite happy about it. I suspect it would be pretty unhealthy, and therefore trying to get them to go hillwalking would be flogging a dead horse. Mind you, I stumbled across the Paramo store in London a few weeks ago and the assistant suggested that a store in the Lakes might be closer to me (I had told him I live near Worcester)
Stop fretting and being so PC.

harland

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1717
That reminds me of a conversation I had with a geography graduate working in London who asked me during a postal strike if I could pop up to Carlisle to deliver something in my lunch break - I was working in Manchester!

pdstsp

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3826
I think Leafe is trying to put the people who are fighting him on the back foot, by implying that they are, in some way, racist or ageist for trying to protect the park.  When I wrote a brief report on here last year about the Friends of the Lake District rally, I pointed out that most of the people there were white and middle aged or older.  However, this does not mean that these people are trying to maintain some sort of "club" as implied by Leafe, but rather these people may have more time to take on the challenge of fighting to maintain the park as a wild(ish) place, and, as Ninthace has pointed out, may have a longer historical tie to the park because of their cultural background.


I also think the park is becoming more ethnically diverse - there are many Chinese and Japanese visitors, who, in my experience tend to cluster where they are bussed in, ie Bowness, Grasmere etc, but also may people of Indian/Pakistani descent, many of whom I have met and chatted with on the fells.  My own view is that Leafe is trying to obscure the deeply divisive and unpopular policies with regards to monetising the Lakes.


Whatever the reason, I love to walk the fells, and to look down on a lake such as Grasmere, catching the morning sun and reflecting the fells and trees around it, and for that reason I will be solidly against this application and any others, such as the gondola, which seeks to alter the character of the park.


 

andyapanel

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 92
I think they do the wrong sort of Geography at school these days, although marking on maps the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield etc could be deleted

Bring back O level; it included map reading compass work and describing the terrain from OS maps.
As far as I can tell these days, its touchy-feely stuff about people. I was a Teacher till recently, so I saw a decline (sorry CHANGE) in difficulty in exam papers.

richardh1905

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12713
I also think the park is becoming more ethnically diverse - there are many Chinese and Japanese visitors, who, in my experience tend to cluster where they are bussed in, ie Bowness, Grasmere etc, but also may people of Indian/Pakistani descent, many of whom I have met and chatted with on the fells.  My own view is that Leafe is trying to obscure the deeply divisive and unpopular policies with regards to monetising the Lakes.

I walked the shores of Grasmere and Rydal yesterday, and up to the slate caverns - quite a diverse mix of people, young families, elderly, some Far Eastern, some in Muslim attire, and certainly nothing to stop anyone visiting, other than the topography and natural roughness of the ground.

I do wonder whether the mendacious Leafe is playing the 'Race Card' to deflect from his gross mismanagement of the LDNPA.
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

Percy

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1653
A good way for the LDNPA to encourage greater diversity might be to replace their old, white, middle-class chief executive.

pdstsp

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3826
A good way for the LDNPA to encourage greater diversity might be to replace their old, white, middle-class chief executive.


Less of the old - he's younger than me  ;D .


But a good point generally.

Bigfoot_Mike

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2407
What is it about the fells and lakes that prevents people of any age or race enjoying them, if they have the physical capability? I was young when I started hiking and crossed the Brecon Beacons and ascended Snowdon while in my early teens, despite my family having no interest in the outdoors and living miles away. Climbing is (or used to be) a youngster’s game. I would have thought that 4x4s, house boats, hunting, shooting and fishing and horse riding are much more likely to attract middle aged white men than hiking and climbing. I have seen and walked with people from many nationalities, in their teens and in their 80s. 


I really fail to see the point of the LDNPA. Surely, the reason for the National Park being there is the wildness and landscape. We shouldn’t be trying to change this. Tarmac paths and gondolas will not add to the park, but rather change the Lake District into a northern Disneyland or similar. Unfortunately, we can’t make all hills, fells and mountains accessible- nor should we. However, there are options (e.g. Snowdon and Glenshee) where disabled access to the hills is possible.

forgotmyoldpassword

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1017
I walked the shores of Grasmere and Rydal yesterday, and up to the slate caverns - quite a diverse mix of people, young families, elderly, some Far Eastern, some in Muslim attire, and certainly nothing to stop anyone visiting, other than the topography and natural roughness of the ground.

I do wonder whether the mendacious Leafe is playing the 'Race Card' to deflect from his gross mismanagement of the LDNPA.


I was there two days ago. Loads of Asian people visiting. It's almost certainly him or his team playing the current zeitgeist of, essentially, if you don't support the recent developments then you are probably a stale white racist.  At the end of the day the fells, valleys and lakes are accessible to everyone, it is no surprise able bodied persons prefer active pursuits, for example.  It's also a majority white country so don't be surprised if white people visit.  Again, the mere expressing of these facts for some seems to be racist.


The fact of the matter is I applaud him trying to be accessible and inclusive, however he needs to read the government's own guidelines again to remind himself that the NPA is a custodian to the culture and character of the area and are not charged with vastly changing it whilst waving around a diversity survey.

 

Terms of Use     Privacy Policy