Over £200-worth of fines have been issued over the early May bank holiday amid a crackdown on fly camping in the Lake District.
Cumberland Council said its environmental crime team issued advice and fines to people in the Western Lake District over the weekend in a bid to tackle fly camping causing or that was likely to cause anti-social behaviour.
Teams spoke with people in the area to remind them of the importance of being responsible and respectful in the region’s outdoor spaces and also issued fixed penalty notices to those in breach of the Public Spaces Protection Order.
Two fines of £100 each were issued in Lanthwaite and Rannerdale in response to anti-social behaviour.
Council teams patrolled these areas as part of a targeted response following a hotspot mapping exercise carried out with other involved organisations.
The Public Spaces Protection Order will remain in place for three years and gives the council’s civil enforcement team the power to issue fines to people caught fly camping or acting anti-socially in the Lake District.
As the order was only put in place in November, this is the first summer where it is being put to the test.
While Cumberland Council have put a protection order in place, Westmorland and Furness Council have confirmed they currently have no plans to do the same.
Fly-camping – not to be confused with wild camping – is named so when campers do not follow the rules of wild camping and when their planned pitch is not above the highest fell wall.
