Fees and charges – including the cost of mooring boats – on Windermere are to rise by five per cent.
This widespread hike – to take place in April – is half the increase that was initially suggested to a meeting of South Lakeland District Council’s lake administration committee earlier this month.
Committee chairman Cllr Kevin Holmes said the committee’s decision to reduce the rise stemmed partly from the increasing cost of living.
“It [10 per cent] would have been too much, especially for local people that use the lake,” he said. “The other thing is we don’t want to drive tourists away.”
A report from Frankie Flannigan, SLDC’s operational lead for service delivery, produced ahead of the meeting recommended ‘all fees and charges’ be raised by 10 per cent ‘where practical’.
The changes are to come on top of the rise in fees related to the Lake District National Park Authority’s Windermere boat registration scheme. All power-driven vessels used on Windermere must be registered with the national park authority.
The hike, which has already taken place, has seen the cost of new registrations move from £20 to £37, the cost of annual renewal move from £15 to £28, and the cost of transferring the registration into a new owner’s name jump from £20 to £37.
The £10 cost for a full set of self-adhesive registration numbers has not changed.
