20th February 2018: We have received confirmation that Treetop Trek has withdrawn its ‘Thirlmere Activity Hub’ planning application. It will no longer be considered by the planning authority.
We would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you who took the time to write to the planning authority with your objections to the 'Thirlmere Activity Hub', to those of you that sent us such wonderful images (and paintings) of the Thirlmere valley, those who attended our rally, donated to our campaign and offered us support and encouragement in our efforts to stop this development.
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20th December 2017Read our written response to the application here.
23rd November 2017
Now that we have seen a detailed planning application, our initial concerns regarding the impacts of this proposal have been borne out. We will be making a full assessment of the application before submitting a full written response. In the meantime we have drafted our initial assessment of the plans and our thoughts on the proposals.
We are against the proposal and strongly urge all members and supporters to join us in taking action to stop this intrusive development.
We believe that the Thirlmere Valley should be protected from inappropriate commercial development such as the zip wires being proposed.
The siting of zip wires east-west across Thirlmere we consider to be wholly inappropriate in this location and we object strongly to this element of the proposal.
The creation of the zip wire development would have a major impact on the beauty and tranquillity of the Thirlmere Valley and would set a precedent for further commercial activity around Thirlmere, the wider valley, and the Lake District National Park at large.
Thirlmere, the birthplace of the conservation movement, must be protected from this inappropriate commercial development.
Public resistance to creating a reservoir at Thirlmere to service Manchester in the 1870s was a seminal moment in the history of the conservation movement and landscape protection in the UK and beyond. It led to the beginnings of organisations which became the National Trust and Friends of the Lake District who sought to protect the environment and fought to create legally protected areas of land - the National Parks. That battle showed that landscapes matter to everyone, not just those who own land; it highlighted the incredible natural resources of the Lake District but also their vulnerability and sensitivity. This proposal once again brings these issues in to focus albeit in a thoroughly modern context. Thirlmere’s history as the birthplace of the conservation movement in the UK (and in fact the world) makes it a key cultural asset to the Lake District National Park, and was one of the contributing reasons it was classified as a World Heritage Site earlier this year.
Such development would create conflict between the National Park purposes and the Sandford principle, enshrined in the Environment Act 1995, which states:
"If it appears that there is a conflict between those purposes, [the National Park Authority] shall attach greater weight to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area".
This means that if there is a conflict between commercial and environmental interests in a National Park, the environment should take precedence. We believe that the proposal would have a detrimental impact on the landscape and tranquillity of the Thirlmere valley and so conflicts with the intrinsic purposes of the National Park.
This application threatens to cause significant negative impacts to the landscape and destroy the tranquillity of the Thirlmere valley. We are concerned about the management of visitor numbers, increasing traffic and the lack of adequate parking for commercial development in this area of the National Park.
National Parks are for everyone to enjoy not just those who can afford to participate in adventure experiences. A commercial development of this type in this prominent location could potentially have a significant impact on the features people visit the Lake District to enjoy – the landscapes, the tranquillity, the heritage.
What about the Cycleway? In principle we would support a 'family friendly' cycleway which used and upgraded existing paths in a sensitive way. However, we don't believe that the benefits of creating this would outweigh the negative impacts on the landscape and tranquillity of the valley that the zip wire development would cause. We would also oppose any related commercial development that may arise from the creation of the cycleway.
Supporters of the proposals argue that they believe that Thirlmere is a degraded landscape in the Lake District National Park. We do not agree. See how Thirlmere looks today in the gallery.