In reply to DaveAtkinson: I had difficulty getting to sleep last night and so thought about this. Somewhat surprisingly, it kept me awake for some time...
What I eventually thought was:
1. The Lake District is one of England's most beautiful areas of countryside. It attracts a large number of different types of visitors each year, some who want to walk, climb or cycle on its hills, some to sail on its lakes, others who want to spend time in its valleys visitng different venues. The value of tourism to the area is immense.
2. It is also a National Park.
3. There have been many different types of industrial activity in the area throughout its history. From stone axe factories in Langdale in prehistoric times through mining of minerals and slate and latterly harnessing of its water. Without these activities much of the area would not now look as it does.
4. That is not a reason to allow free-form development of further activity without full and detailed scrutiny.
5. West Cumbria is a site of national importance in the nuclear industry. The environmental agenda has to balance the need for cleaner, 'greener' power sources of which nuclear power in some form will be a part with the need to both ensure this is as environmentally friendly as possible and deal with the legacy of waste left by historical activity.
6. There aren't a great many other activities offering large-scale employment in the region.
7. Ennerdale is an iconic valley because of the difficulty in reaching it; it is more frequently looked down on than looked up from. However, it isn't completely inaccessible. It has also been the site of significant forestry activity which for many years radically altered the appearance of the valley. This is a precedent of a kind, but not one that presupposes it can be used for other types of development at will.
8. Nevertheless, the 'wildness' of the valley is something to treasure.
9. All of this means, coupled with the willingness of the residents of West Cumbria to live and deal with a problem that many other regions of the country would reject out of hand, that West Cumbria will be the site of a repository to deal with nuclear waste.
10. Whether this should be Ennerdale needs to be closely examined by all the due processes necessary.
11. But if it is to be Ennerdale, then the outline plans need further close scrutiny to ensure not only that the have the minimum impact on the valley, but also that they serve as a national feature development espousing the best of environmentally friendly development too.
12. This should include plans to support increased access to the valley for walkers and others seeking to reach the head of the valley and the hills and crags therein, in an environmentally friendly manner. Many national parks in the USA offer such models - Zion canyon has a fleet of electric buses, I think - and something like this must be an essential part of the plans.
13. All of this will take time to put in place. Inevitably there will be disruption of access. Making access easier will help dispel the grumbles a little; they won't go away, but giving this early on as a quid pro quo will help a great deal.
14. As a consequence, the Lake District will eventually become a little less wild; Ennerdale will see more activity and a once remote and difficult to access valley will become more familiar.
15. There is much to be said for maintaining wildness in a world that becomes ever smaller. The Lake District National Park should seek to balance the loss of one of its wilder areas with the development of another.
16. The demands of the north west (and indeed the country) for water will increase over the coming years.
17. These two points could both be addressed by resurrecting plans made in the 1960s (or possibly 70s) to raise the level of the dam at the end of Haweswater, preventing access to the head of the valley except by foot or boat.
18. In addition, the feasibility of using the Haweswater dam to generate hydroelectric power should be investigated.
At this point, I fell asleep. Whilst much of the above is speculative and generated by a tired mind seeking the balm of sleep, I thought it worth getting down and sharing.
T.
T.