Plans for a new high ropes course at an adventure park in the Lake District have been given the green light by planners.
The Lake District National Park Authority has approved plans submitted by Adventure Forest Ltd to build a tree top challenge course at Go Ape Whinlatter near Keswick.
The challenge course will consist of several elements including access ladders or staircases, platforms on trees, timber and wire crossings, zip wires and zip wire landing zones.
It will be made up of four sections, all starting in the same place with a staircase or ladder to access the main hub and finishing with a zip wire.
A high ropes course activity has been operated at Whinlatter by Go Ape since 2008 – but due to the impact of a tree disease the existing course was decommissioned in May 2022.
The site was also given planning permission for a smaller Tree Top Adventure and Adventure+ designed for ages six to 12 years old course in February 2022 which opened in August 2022.
The design and access statement claims that the proposal fits in well with Forestry England’s Growing the Future strategy which aims to increase the diversity of visitors to the nation’s forests.
It added that the course’s forest location and proximity to existing infrastructure will result in a negligible landscape impact.
According to the statement, the development could lead to seven full-time employees.
The plans received two letters of objection which expressed concern that the proposals would lead to a ‘significant increase’ in traffic travelling through the narrows in Braithwaite.
A report by planning officers states although the development would lead to an increase in traffic it would not have an ‘adverse’ impact.
Previous plans for the site to build a replacement course and install two zipwires over 800m in length were withdrawn in August and faced opposition from local residents with one representation describing the proposed development as a ‘theme park’ in the Lake District.
The new plans were granted planning permission on Tuesday.
