Elements of a vote of no confidence in the Lake District National Park Authority were supported by members of Borrowdale Parish Council.
But councillors did not fully agree with the action taken at a recent meeting of the Lakes Parish Council where a motion of no confidence was passed.
Lakes Parish Council – which covers Ambleside, the Langdales, Rydal and Grasmere – said it had concerns around tourism and the cost of housing as well as maintenance responsibilities being neglected, failure to enforce planning conditions and the promotion of unsustainable commercialisation.
Members of Borrowdale Parish Council noted the vote of no confidence and it was agreed that a letter be sent to the LDNPA confirming that members were not in support of the action taken by their colleagues on Lakes Parish Council.
But the letter will make it clear that Borrowdale Parish Council does agree with a number of points made by Lakes Parish Council and these are as follows:
- The council appreciates the lengths the LDNPA has gone to in a bid to moderate visitor behaviour, but there has been too much emphasis on encouraging more and more visitors before a solution has been found to the problems they cause (car parking, toilets, etc);
- The description ‘adventure capital’ has not been helpful and should be dropped;
- The parish council does not accept the claim that many applications for holiday accommodation would be beneficial to the local economy. It was pointed out that much of the servicing of these properties has to be done in the same short period on Fridays or Saturdays. Most local people wanting this work are already at full capacity, so people drive from outside the park to fulfil these roles. Many of the property owners do not live in the park and it is now a common sight to see holiday lets receiving large online deliveries from supermarkets on the day of arrival with no money being spent in the local economy;
- The parish council feels that market saturation has been reached in terms of holiday lets/second homes, and would request the LDNPA looks to more firmly enforce compliance with local occupancy clauses;
- The parish council would request that rather than accepting a standardised design, more could be done to soften the visual impact of some agricultural buildings.
At the time the vote of no confidence was made, Richard Leafe, the outgoing chief executive of the LDNPA, said he was disappointed that the process had been undertaken by Lakes Parish Council and added that its comments would be considered before a response was made.
