Campaign Update 1st June 2021

We suspended our campaigning activities during the Covid 19 Pandemic and this included SOLD.

The campaign resulted in a number of positive outcomes. It assisted with ensuring that the houseboats proposal for Grasmere did not go forward and with partners groups in the campaign provided renewed focus on the controversial use of motorised vehicles on fell tracks and potential proposals for Gondolas at Whinlatter as well as issues around the Keswick- Threlkeld path.

We know that the SOLD campaign was taken seriously and caused concern in the Park authority and this has resulted in increased communication on a regular basis between ourselves and the Park Authority.

The campaign attracted regional and national media attention to a range of proposals and developments around the Lake District that we felt were not appropriate and may well make developers think twice before proposing inappropriate proposals like zip wires and houseboats.

The next step in the campaign, planned before the pandemic was to highlight a more positive approach illustrating how the Lake District should be looked after for the nation and communities that live, work in and visit the area. This was overtaken by the pandemic and a focus on working as part of the Lake District National Park Partnership (we are a member) to feed into and help shape the next management plan that covers the period 2020-2025.

As members of the Partnership we are supportive of much of the Plan, but still have serious concern about whether the actions proposed in the travel and transport section of the plan will meet the ambition of the section of the plan that deals with the climate crisis. It may be the case that some aspects of the SOLD Campaign could be re-ignited depending on whether the plan looks like it will deliver what is required to protect the landscape and communities of the Lake District.

We would like to thank everyone who has donated to the SOLD campaign so far. Because of you, we can continue our work to protect the landscapes of this special place, campaigning against unsuitable developments and other threats to the National Park.

---

Friends of the Lake District: The only membership organisation dedicated to protecting and enhancing Lake District and Cumbrian landscapes. Friends of the Lake District, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7SS

Tel: 01539 720788  www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk 

Registered Charity Number 1100759, Company No 4878364