Charity opposes 'zip wire' attraction transport plan

There are plans for a zip wire attraction in caverns at Elterwater Quarry

A landscape charity in Cumbria says revised plans for a tourist attraction in the Lake District National Park are "woefully inadequate".

Developers Burlington Stone and future operators Zip World want visitors to explore part of a cavern at Elterwater Quarry, in Langdale, using platforms and ziplines.

The Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) is considering the revised scheme, after turning down a similar application last year.

Burlington Stone says the re-submitted plans involve "a detailed visitor plan and sustainable transport measures that will effectively manage visitor numbers and minimise impacts on the local area".

'Listened carefully'

Zip World said its plans for the attraction itself were unchanged from the last application, but said it had "listened carefully" to feedback from the LDNPA and updated the measures covering how people would travel there.

They include "financial incentives" for those who do not arrive by car, and limits on the number of tickets it sells to avoid exceeding the on-site parking capacity.

In a statement, the Zip World CEO Andrew Hudson said: "We have experience operating in national parks and are confident these measures will allow us to effectively manage visitor numbers at all times."

Lorayne Wall, Planning Officer, Friends of the Lake District

But charity Friends of the Lake District (FLD) opposes the travel plans.

FLD planning officer Lorayne Wall said a proposal to ask many customers to park at Brockhole on the shore of Windermere and travel six miles to the quarry by bus, boat, bike, or on foot, was "just unrealistic".

She said those ways of travelling would not suit families, or those arriving in wet weather.

Ms Wall said the range of transport modes being proposed for customers could mean it would "take longer" for them to make the journey than they spent at the attraction itself.

The charity is encouraging people to send in their objections to the LDNPA.

Joe Nichols owns and runs food and drink businesses in Langdale

The owner of a cafe-bar and distillery nearby is also sceptical about the planned attraction.

Joe Nichols from Lanty Slee's, on Elterwater Common, told the BBC he is broadly in favour of a use for the quarry, if it becomes a heritage experience that "brings a new knowledge to the visitors that come to Elterwater".

But he also has "enormous concerns", as someone living nearby.

He said it could be "possibly misguided" to bring adrenaline-based activities, like those offered by Zip World elsewhere, into an application involving heritage.

He said people should consider whether or not the development brought "more" than it took from the valley, and that quarry customers would be unlikely to visit surrounding businesses because they would be offered refreshment on site.

The LDNPA says no date has been set for when its development control committee will decide on the scheme, but it will not be in March.