Plans to ban all power-driven boats and vessels from the Lake District’s small waters have been branded a mistake by a Cumbrian MP.
The Lake District National Park Authority launched a consultation earlier this year about the plans, to protect the public and environment due to an increase in the popularity of wild swimming and watersports like paddleboarding.
Markus Campbell-Savours, Penrith and Solway MP, said he was concerned that it could see fishermen who use small powerboats banned from some of the smaller lakes.
Mr Campbell-Savours said: “I think this proposed byelaw is a mistake with the potential to unfairly hit fishermen, many of whom have been responsibly fishing the lakes and rivers of Cumbria for generations.
“I want members of the Lake District National Park Authority to meet me at Bassenthwaite so they can see that any fears about noise, safety, or the environment, in relation to small Lakeland fishing boats with electric motors are misguided.
“This proposed byelaw will unfairly impact people who the national park should value as an important partner.
“It was in fact the late Bob Smeaton and other fishermen who alerted Dale Campbell-Savours MP to the perilous state of Bassenthwaite in the 1990s, which ultimately secured the upgrade of the sewage treatment works at the east end of the lake.
“I say to the national park authority – far from being a problem, fishermen are our eyes and ears – or as one Keswick fisherman put it to me – ‘we are your canaries in the coalmine’.”
