22 May 2024
There are lots of sustainable travel initiatives for the Lake District already underway but with 18 million visitors coming each year, it remains a challenge. The benefit is that sustainable travel initiatives experienced in the Lake District encourage behaviour change when visitors return home, which is a real positive.
The Lake District National Park Partnership has ambitious aspirations, including that by 2025, 20 per cent of visitors will arrive by sustainable transport and 40 per cent will state sustainable transport as the main mode of travel within the Lake District. Integrated water transport, zero carbon buses, and autonomous vehicle services all feature in the Lake District National Park Partnership Plan.
There’s no doubt that walking, cycling, or traveling by boat, rail or bus are the best way to discover this spectacular landscape and its Outstanding Universal Values. It’s more enjoyable, relaxing, and healthier and reduces carbon emissions and pressures on communities and the landscape.
Initiatives encouraging more active travel, with visitors and locals walking or cycling, include e-bike hire from Penrith Train Station thanks to a partnership with Lowther.
Around Lowther and Penrith, and in other parts of the Lake District, cycle trails and e-bikes lead cyclists through some of the most stunning of scenery. Routes cater for all ages and abilities and the amazing electric bike can travel over 40 miles in a day with ‘pedal-assist’ providing some oomph.
A popular local initiative between Keswick Launch Company and Keswick Rugby Club is helping to reduce vehicle emissions in the Lake District National Park and World Heritage Site - it's also a fun Park and Sail alternative to visiting Derwent Water, Cat Bells and Squirrel Nutkin.
Park and Sail was established by way of a partnership between the local community. Keswick Rugby Club and Keswick Launch Company in Covid. John Wilson explains:
“The aims were to help deal with long standing vehicle parking and congestion problems on the west of the lake and promote a large, underutilised car park at Keswick Rugby Club and highlight the joys and benefits of the launches. Car parking is available at £4 or £5 per day for over 200 vehicles in two car parks and users get 15% off launches on day for up to five people.
"The scheme helps reduce vehicle numbers on the problematic west (Cat Bells side) of the lake and encourages people to park up for the day or longer and use the boats to get around or just enjoy! The popular Hawse End shuttle for Cat Bells bound walkers is now well established and runs very regularly in busy periods.”
Summer 2024 also sees the return of shuttle buses linking two of the National Park’s most popular hiking and walking destinations. The Wasdale Shuttle route connects Ravenglass train station with a pop-up car park in Nether Wasdale, while the Buttermere Shuttle linked Cockermouth town directly with Buttermere.
And in Ullswater, a new bus service, set up by the community group SITU, links with the main 508 bus route on weekends through summer. It provides transport for people staying camp sites around the valley and linked to places including Lowther and Howtown.
Quality-designed gateway railway stations are central to the Lake District National Park Management Plan with plans for 50 per cent more visitors reaching the national park by rail and using integrated onward travel to Keswick, Ullswater and Windermere.
At the end of 2021, we adopted a Supplementary Planning Document for the area, including Windermere Station. Improvements include passenger capacity, better walking and cycling links to Windermere town centre, and more EV charging points.
As progress is made towards a net zero National Park by 2037, one of the best ways to achieve this is by reducing carbon emissions from visitor travel.
A three-year Recharge in Nature partnership between BMW and National Parks runs until 2025, making the 15 national parks even more accessible for electric cars. It’s all started in the Lake District, which was chosen because it is the most visited of all the national parks and because the enhanced recharging network has the potential to support local communities too.
Over the next three years, BMW UK will also work with National Parks UK, including the Lake District World Heritage Site, on sustainable tourism, nature restoration, biodiversity, and wellbeing.
There’s active management of green road driving. This is when recreational vehicles like 4x4s and trail bikes use unsealed routes with public vehicular rights. Some green lanes are very old and have a connection to the industrial heritage of farming and quarries.
In High Tilberthwaite and Breasthigh Road, partnership groups including green road drivers are working together to agree current and future use, and to carry out environmental improvements such as tree planting.
Geoff Wilson, local liaison person for the Motoring Organisations’ Land Access and Recreation Association (LARA) took part in the Breasthigh Road Volunteer Day. He said: “In association with the Trail Riders Fellowship and the Green Lanes Association, we accept our partnership responsibility with the National Park Authority to securing the long-term stability of the route for all users.
“We will continue to advise our member organisations on how best to get involved in helping to maintain the route in keeping with the multi-user nature of it and the enhanced environment that has resulted from this project.”
We will continue to work with partners, land managers, user groups and stakeholders to manage and mitigate the impacts of such activity on the routes themselves and the surrounding environment.
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