Cautley Spout: Bridge plan sparks waterfall tourist influx fears

The bridge will be built near Cautley Spout waterfall in the Yorkshire Dales National Park

A new bridge near England's highest cascade waterfall has been approved, despite warnings the area is already overwhelmed by visitors.

The bridge will be constructed over the River Rawthey in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, close to the 650ft (198m) high Cautley Spout waterfall.

One objector said "no-one knows" how many people it could attract.

But Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority gave the go-ahead, saying it would make the site more accessible.

A meeting of the authority's planning committee had earlier been told by officers that the proposed 8ft (2.5m) wide bridge would improve access to the waterfall and surrounding area for horse riders, children and people with disabilities.

Replacing the existing footbridge near the Cross Keys Temperance Inn and steep steps leading to it with a full accessible bridleway bridge at road level with multi-user access capabilities was needed to open 2,300ft (700m) of paths that lead to Cautley Beck valley, they added.

No new parking spaces were being proposed beside the 10 spaces already at the site because the aim was not to increase the number of visitors, officers said.

While Sedbergh Parish Council had backed what it described as a "significant improvement in terms of access to an important local landmark", it had raised concerns the scheme did not feature an increase in off-road parking, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Not enough parking'

One resident told the meeting that while the paths on the other side of the bridge would need upgrading to be suitable for pushchairs and horse riders had rarely used the bridleway, the group of users the wider bridge would interest most would be motocross bike riders.

He said such was the popularity of the area that as many as 50 cars had recently been counted parked on the road, so increasing access across the river would exacerbate road safety issues in an area which had seen a marked increase in visitors to a level which the area had not been able to absorb.

"There is not even enough parking for the current visitors. The police have put up cones to prevent the most dangerous parking. Nevertheless, cars are parked right along the road in both directions on both sides directly by the bridge," he said.

"In truth, no-one knows the extra amount of visitors this new bridge will attract. One thing is clear, the new bridge will be a Pandora's box."

Ahead of voting to approve the new bridge, several members said while they wanted to improve access for certain groups of users, particularly those of varying abilities, it was inevitable that a wider bridge would attract more visitors to the area.