Up to 50,000 people a year are set to visit a new Lake District tourist attraction – if it gets the go-ahead this week.
Plans to create an adventure tourism destination in a Lake District quarry are set to be given the green light today, Wednesday, despite objections that it would ‘transform it into a theme park’.
Burlington Slate wants to use part of Elterwater Quarry at Great Langdale for heritage tourism – including zip wires in its caverns, a visitor centre and natural history trail.
When the firm first revealed its plans last year, it provoked outrage.
The scheme includes:
- The introduction of a fixed line route connecting viewing platforms within a cavern – the ‘in-cavern explorer route’ – using zip wires to provide access to viewpoints and features of interest;
- Recladding former saw sheds and use of part of the sheds to provide a larger visitor building;
- Alterations to an existing building to provide a second, smaller visitor building;
- The introduction of an outdoor heritage interpretation area;
- Car and coach parking and associated landscaping;
- The introduction of a permissive route within the quarry to a viewpoint.
There have been 1,393 individual objections and four letters of support.
The proposal is now set to be considered by the Lake District National Park Authority’s development control committee. It has been recommended for approval.
‘Wrong type’ of visitor to tranquil valley
The International Council on Monuments and Sites, the advisory body to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, said in its view the scheme would “transform part of the quarry into a theme park, threatening to trivialise the experience of an important aspect of the historic heritage of the Lake District, and one of its attributes.”
It added that it would disrupt the area’s tranquil nature. It said: “Great Langdale has preserved a distinctive and almost intact agro-pastoral character and the valley’s secluded appearance has inspired artists and writers, as well as benefactors who have purchased land to preserve this landscape.
“The proposed tourism development appears alien to the character of the valley, and one of its attributes, drawing traffic to the Great Langdale valley and a type of audience that will contribute to the disruption of its tranquil and contemplative character.”
It requested that the approval process be suspended until a strategy for the entire Lake District’s outstanding universal value-based could be prepared.
According to UNESCO’s policy, outstanding universal value means cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity.
Traffic and road concerns
Lakes Parish Council has also objected. The authority raised concerns about traffic and infrastructure – with roads in bad repair and often congested.
It said: “It’s well known that most of the Lake District is full in the peak seasons. Add in running and cycling events with thousands of participants and you have a recipe for disaster in which emergency vehicles cannot access roads due to anti-social parking and congestion – which is something that happens
during the busy summer months in recent years and that has become a stark reality.”
It also said Elterwater, Langdale and surrounding areas had an “alarming lack ” of full-time residents, which meant staff would be coming in from further afield, putting extra pressure on parking and to change the quarry’s nature into another type of commercial gain would invite more tourism to an area that is saturated with problems such as litter, traffic, noise and air pollution.
Historic England raised no objections and after the International Council on Monuments and Sites’ response was received, it said its assessment was unchanged.
Heritage-based adventure
Burlington, which is owned by the Holker Group, said: “The proposed experience at Elterwater will provide a blend of heritage-based adventure through the caverns and offer a unique immersive experience within an underground mine that dates back to the middle of the 19th century.
“In the cavern, participants start at the top of the incline in the training area. They will then later make their way down in to the main and much larger gallery via the separate entrance. The activity includes a series of steel staircases, steel platforms and gravity driven routes which would allow visitors to slowly traverse the caverns.
“Participants are attached via a harness to an overhead safety system fixed to the cavern walls and roof using simple and inconspicuous pins (not dissimilar to what
was used in the mid-19th century to help fix miners to the cavern walls).”
It said there was a maximum capacity of 40 people an hour in the caverns.
No impact on roads
In a report to the committee’s members, officers said: “From the visitor estimates, and considering the finite capacity of the proposed cavern explorer attraction, I do not consider that the proposal would have a particularly perceptible impact on the wider road network, either within or outside peak season.
“Available information also indicates that proposed car park capacity at the attraction would be sufficient that even if all visitors accessed the site by car, they could be accommodated on site, and therefore the development is not likely to result in displacement which adds to parking pressures in Elterwater or the surrounding area.”
However, it added: “Representations raise concerns about the usability of proposed transport options as an alternative to the private car.
“The Travel Plan focuses on the use of Brockhole as a park and ride car park. However, this car park is some distance from Elterwater and currently experiences capacity issues From its existing operations.
“I share the misgivings expressed in representations about the presented travel plan and its feasibility. However, I am satisfied that this issue can be addressed by imposition of a planning condition requiring submission and monitoring of a further travel plan should permission be granted.”
The report added that although officers said the landscape value was high, the development was in a working quarry.
It said: “Due to the scale and nature of the site the quarry is highly visible in the wider landscape.”
It added that slate quarrying and mining had left the greatest impact of all on the Langdale landscape and Elterwater Quarry did not have any direct impact on heritage assets and the scheme’s potential to impact upon the Outstanding Universal Value of the English Lake District World Heritage Site would also be very limited.
It said the request for the application to be suspended for a review to be carried out was inconsistent with the legal framework of the planning system and outside the scope of the application.
