A legal challenge over plans to create a heritage tourism attraction at a Lake District quarry will be held this week.
A judicial review will start on Wednesday into the Lake District National Park Authority’s decision to grant permission for the attraction at Elterwater Quarry.
The attraction, from Burlington Slate and Zip World, is predicted to attract up to 50,000 visitors a year.
It will include an underground cavern explorer experience, using zipwires. Plans include installing platforms in the caves at points of interest. Visitors will travel from one platform to another via zipline.
But on Wednesday, landscape charity Friends of the Lake District’s legal challenge will come to court in Manchester.
The charity said while the judicial review was set to consider points of law and procedure, what was at stake was a ‘choice between two competing visions of the national park’.
It said: “One choice is for a Lake District where major new tourist developments receive approval despite their impact on the tranquillity of communities like Elterwater.
“The alternative is a vision of a thriving Lake District – for nature, for people, for ever: a national park with natural beauty, tranquillity and pride in cultural heritage at its heart.
“The landscape charity’s concerns about the decision to approve the development regard the impact of increased traffic coming into the Langdales and concerns relating to the process by which approval of the decision was made.”
The charity said the Lake District National Park Authority failed to recognise the impact on the tranquillity of the area, misunderstood its responsibilities to conserve and enhance the park’s natural beauty and cultural heritage, and did not impose proper conditions on the developer.
Michael Hill, CEO of Friends of the Lake District, said: “We hope that the ruling goes our way and that the national park authority is directed to prioritise the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the park.
“If the ruling does go against us, it will take us a step closer to a Lake District of noise, chaos and degraded landscapes.
“For Friends of the Lake District, it would be a setback, but in our 90 years’ history, we have seen many of those and have always remained true to our vision of a Lake District run for nature and people, with landscapes that are tranquil, rich in cultural heritage and environmentally healthy. Together with our thousands of supporters, we won’t stop fighting until this vision comes to fruition.”
Malcolm Lamb, who lives in the Langdale area, said he supported the charity’s legal challenge.
He said he was concerned about the amount of traffic which will come to Elterwater when attraction opened.
He said Elterwater Common was already being degraded by cars parking on the verges and this problem would only get worse because of the large numbers of people coming to the attraction.
He added: “There’s no infrastructure in place to accommodate the rising numbers of visitors here and neither should there be. I don’t want a dual carriageway in place between Ambleside and Elterwater.
“I like the twisty road, it’s part of the character, but it’s not designed for the amount of traffic that’s already using it, let alone the traffic that will be using it if this development takes place. Regardless of how successful Friends of the Lake District is in this action, it’s important that this issue is highlighted.”
Local writer and photographer, Bill Birkett, added: “True Lakeland adventure is to be found in the unparalleled natural world of the Great Langdale Valley, its crags and fells, rock climbs and walks.
” To describe the money making (for the few) Elterwater Zip World fun park as an adventure attraction is a betrayal of the true nature of the Lake District National Park and it will have highly detrimental consequences in terms of extra heads on the ground, the extra traffic it will generate, the increased demand on clean water treatment and public services which are already stretched beyond breaking point. This proposed development would be a disaster for the area.”
The legal challenge will be heard at Manchester’s Civil Justice Centre.
