One of the most unusual planning applications to crop up in a National Park was refused last week by the Lake District National Park Authority – a 1200m zip wire on Fleetwith Fell. With the authority’s planning officers declining to make a recommendation because the case was deemed too finely balanced, the decision was left to the authority’s members. After much deliberation and weighing up of all of the issues (landscape harm, ecological impact, effects on tranquillity, economic benefits, recreational diversification), they eventually refused permission for the zip wire.
Before and after the decision a war of words was conducted in the press with famous mountaineers siding with the quarry company that had proposed the zip wire and parish councils and recreation and conservation groups arguing against the plans. Fair enough, but animosity grew exponentially as the decision day approached, exploding uncontrollably after the refusal was announced.
Some saw this application as a line in the sand, others felt that the issues were more finely balanced, but, whatever your view, the planning system exists to enable everyone to have their say so that the use of one of our most precious resources (land) is regulated in the overall public interest. That’s exactly what has happened in this case, with the National Park Authority deciding that the harm to the landscape from the zip wire outweighed its economic benefits. It would be a sad day indeed were objectors or supporters of development proposals in National Parks unable to voice their views because of fear of intimidation or lambasting from ‘the other side’. I like a good debate as much as the next campaigner, but I was dismayed to see some of the comments in the press, mainly aimed at one opponent in particular, the Friends of the Lake District.
In my view, the Honister zip wire is not, as has been portrayed by some, a case of young versus old, or landscape versus jobs, but an example of a unique development proposal in a National Park on which a reasoned judgement was made. Am I naive to hope that the debate on the next controversial job-generating development in a National Park will be conducted in a less hostile manner? Probably. But that doesn’t stop my wishful thinking.
Like this:
Tags: Lake District, National Park, planning, zip wire
