Zip wire planning application resubmitted

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Honister Slate Mines have resubmitted their application for a zip wire from the summit area of Fleetwith Pike - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-20068309

ALC
 Hammy 24 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber: Are you sure it's from the summit? I was led to believe there was a different take off point well down. Does anybody know the facts?
In reply to Hammy:

I said summit area - I believe the top station is at the top of the workings visible from the car park which is some way east of the actual summit.

ALC
In reply to Hammy: black star in fact - about 500m from the summit! hope this gets refused...again.
 shaun stephens 24 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber: Best of luck to them. I am still baffled as to what everyones problem is.
Posted by a cumbrian who lived and worked in newlands valley,thinks borrowdale is an amazing place. enjoyswalking and climbing in the area and wants the lakes to carry on living and not become a place where the well off can buy holiday homes and the locals cant afford to buy their own houses.
Wiley Coyote2 24 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:
Hope I kept a copy of my objection since IU suppose it will have to e sent again if it's a revised application.
 hedgehog77 25 Oct 2012
In reply to higherclimbingwales:
> (In reply to Hammy) black star in fact - about 500m from the summit! hope this gets refused...again.

But why? Is'nt everyone allowed to enjoy the outdoors and it will bring money and jobs to the area. What about banning all climbing and walking in the UK just incase we spoil the countryside or is'nt people splashed over crags, hanging around boulders carrying mats or lines and lines of walkers dropping litter as the walk to summits enough. Outdoors are to be enjoyed.
 Ridge 25 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:
I was against the proposal initially, but after watching the officials from LDNP and the various other bodies involved in deciding on the original application I'm now completely in favour of it.
 Fredt 25 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:

If only they had Donald Trump's resources, they wouldn't even need to get planning permission.
 Andy Hardy 25 Oct 2012
In reply to shaun stephens:
> Posted by a cumbrian who lived and worked in newlands valley,thinks borrowdale is an amazing place. enjoyswalking and climbing in the area and wants the lakes to carry on living and not become a place where the well off can buy holiday homes and the locals cant afford to buy their own houses.

How do you think a zipwire will help local people buy local houses?

 EeeByGum 25 Oct 2012
In reply to shaun stephens:
> (In reply to a lakeland climber) Best of luck to them. I am still baffled as to what everyones problem is.
> Posted by a cumbrian who lived and worked in newlands valley,thinks borrowdale is an amazing place. enjoyswalking and climbing in the area and wants the lakes to carry on living and not become a place where the well off can buy holiday homes and the locals cant afford to buy their own houses.

Well said. +1 - although I am not a Cumbrian, but a occasional visitor who would love to have a go on such an attraction. There is a lot of Lake District and this is only one bit built on / near a former industrial site.
 Uluru 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Fredt: Ha ha so true. That documentary on Sunday night was something else.
 Trangia 25 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:

Good luck to them - I don't understand what the objection is. It is after all a redundant mine which had all the mining infrastructure including aerial ropeways.
 armus 25 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:

The basic problem is that there are simply too many people in the world and so too many tourists. It's not the tourists fault that they flood
Cumbria. Also large amounts of the Cumbrian tourist trade is owned by outside financial bodies. It is in the owners interest to form alliances with local tourist related firms, big adverstising and including some Cumbrians who don't give a damn about their heritage, to make deals with the EU to employ EU students during the summer on some student exchange deal. This summer I have been in hotels, pubs and cafes in Wales, Scotland & Cumbria. I have been served by people who couldn't even understand "what bitters do you have?" I have also been in a bar staffed by only Japanese students for three hours lunchtime to serve a Japanese tourist party.
I don't want to see Honister, so black, grey & forbiding after rain, forested Whinlatter & open grazing Newlands, become Blackpool. I guided some southern people around those passes yesterday & their big complaint was about the via ferrata on Honister, "It spoils the hill" they said.
But I think that someone should start the Cumbrian Liberation Front.
P.S. Which will be overwhelmed eventually by tourists. As for local jobs, the zipline won't provide anything for locals.
PPS I am so f*****g Cumbrian, from before 1066 my lot!




 birdie num num 25 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:
They need to send the zip wire down to The Fish Inn in Buttermere, you can climb up and then zip down for a pint of Jennings
 armus 25 Oct 2012
In reply to birdie num num:
> (In reply to a lakeland climber)
> They need to send the zip wire down to The Fish Inn in Buttermere, you can climb up and then zip down for a pint of Jennings

I had two pints of Jennings Snecklifter in the Fish yesterday and local trout.
 MG 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Ridge: How did they behave?
 Ridge 25 Oct 2012
In reply to MG:
> (In reply to Ridge) How did they behave?

Pretty much like any planning types. Never visited the site -"quiet solitude of this unspoilt wilderness", people who said it would affect this "habitat untouched since the ice age" - that'll be a spoil heap, usual NIMBYs - even though it wasn't anywhere near their backyards in the suburbs of Keswick and Cockermouth.

Now if he'd applied to built a 200ft statue of Peter Rabbit, (plus suitably sized brown envelopes all round), it would have got a big thumbs up.

I wasn't overly fond of Mark Weir, but at least Honister provides some employment in an otherwise depressed area.
 Ridge 25 Oct 2012
In reply to armus:
I'm ao bit confused by your post. You guide tourists but don't want them, and don't want to see the big f*ck off forestry plantation, access roads, (complete with rally cars), MTB tracks, Go Ape, car parks and visitors centre at Whinlatter being spoilt by tourism?
 MJH 25 Oct 2012
In reply to hedgehog77: The crucial difference is in the main (there are always some ignorant gits) walkers and climbers don't leave their gear behind, whereas a damn great wire is a bit hard to pack up at the end of each day!

I like Fleetwith as it is - a bit like the Welsh slate quarries - the industrial mess/heritage is part of the interest for me. Sticking the zip wire (and to an extent the VF) starts to spoil that.

Is it seriously providing that much in the way of jobs? And is there absolutely nowhere else it could go? I'd pay for it to be put somewhere like Hodge Close Once the tourists have zipped in they have to climb out!
Iain(2010) 25 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:
I've seen a similar zip wire in a valley above the french ski village of Chatel on the Swiss/French border. When it wasn't being used it was not at all obtrusive, you really struggled to see it. When it was being used the only clue you got was a bit of noise generated by the pulley wheel zipping along the cable, it was again visually unobtrusive.

The other main activity in the area was mountain biking and that had a much higher impact on the area, but was acceptable because it brought people to the area out of the ski season and allowed the chair lift infrastructure to be utilised nearly the whole year round. The local community obviously benefited from a diverse range of activities.

I would say from experience that the biggest impact in the Lake District is from people flooding into the area by road, and all trying to move around independently in a car. Some days its gridlock, and to be honest a lot of the visitors aren't going to do much other than buy some shiny waterproofs and go on a low level walk around a lake, especially when its peeing down.

Don't prevent the Honister Zip Wire. BUT do close (restrict) the roads, make the Lakes National Park a massive park and ride scheme. Massive subterranean car parks N, S and East of the Park boundary. Better rail hubs in Kendal, Oxenholme station, and tram people into the park from there. Utilise eco-friendly forms of tram etc etc, make the network within the park area extensive and reliable. Perhaps make local farmers and other essential local industries exempt from transport restrictions so their businesses aren't restricted. Build that lot and the government could really say they have pumped billions into a massive infrastructure project and help kickstart the economy..... government could also say they have started a North West regional development policy.... think of the businesses that could survive in the Lancaster, Kendal Carlisle areas servicing all the transport used in the lakes.

AND, no car noise in the valleys, peace at Shepherds Crag. ????????
 Ridge 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Iain(2010):
Some intriguing ideas there. The lakes, and the rest of Cumbria need a coherent public transport network. When Mrs Ridge broke her wrist it was a 30min walk then nearly 2 hours and £10 to cover the 25 miles to the hospital for an appointment.
I can't see many visitors wanting a similar journey by bus with an MTB to visit Grizedale or Whinlatter for the day.
Then there's the practicality of closing the roads. How do you close hundreds of miles of public roads short of checkpoints manned by police?
Iain(2010) 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Ridge:
No you haven't got it. The whole idea is that it would work better than it does at the moment. Don't try and transpose todays chaotic public transport system over this idea. I agree it would be crap.

The point is cars could be replaced by better integrated networks of transport. Mrs Ridge wouldn't need to worry, it would be better.

She'd be up and running in no time, able to grip the zip wire....
Iain(2010) 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Ridge:
Sorry, an answer to your last question. How do you close roads?

Its easy, put up a barrier, with a system that allows authorised users through; its easy. Don't forget there would be huge underground carparks before the barriers, so it'd be pretty obvious.

Thats my contribution over now. Wife has told me I'm sad!!
Wiley Coyote2 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Iain(2010):

Your wife may think you're sad but I suspect the 40,000 people wo live in the national park may have a slightly stronger word
 The New NickB 25 Oct 2012
In reply to Ridge:
> (In reply to MG)
> [...]
>
> Pretty much like any planning types. Never visited the site.

Hmm.... Don't let the facts get in the way of a good bit of prejudice.
 IanHarrison 26 Oct 2012
In reply to a lakeland climber:

I had hoped this had gone away.
The Lake district is a national park, the general wording of the law that grants this status says something like "that it is to be preserved for the nation to allow the people to enjoy its natural beauty". Britain already has sites for "fair grounds", Halton Towers, Blackpool, Brighton, etc. Just imagine a zip wire from the top of Blackpool Tower to the seaward end of the Central Pier.

For those that say "its just one zip wire in one old industrial site" I say get an OS map & look for all the other "old industrial sites" in the National Park, if you grant this request you can not deny similar requests in other locations around the park.

I noticed one Cumbrian who said that it will save local housing for young Cumbrians.... its a bit late for that isn't it. I drove up Newlands last week (and yes I do live in the park) and was struck by the ex-farms & ex-farm buildings which are now holiday home, the same is true of Troutbeck, Langdale & other valleys through out the park.
 Gael Force 31 Oct 2012
In reply to IanHarrison: There's a few mistakes in your post. Honister is not an old industrial site, its a present working site. Holiday homes provide income to many locals. I cant see any difference between this zip wire and the ski tow at Raise.
The most annoying thing in the area is the National Trust volunteers who hang around Buttermere and put their annoying little notices everywhere.
I would put the zip wire up and ban the National Trust jobsworths from the Western Lakes, the local farmers cant stand them.

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