So, how do you make the Lake District 'change and diversify' because it is too heavily weighted toward 'white middle-class able-bodied people'?

[Nanny0gg]

Richard Leafe, the Cumbria park's chief executive, said the Unesco World Heritage site must change to merit continued public funding.

I mean, it's mountains and lakes. What can you do?

And isn't that a tad patronising as well?

I don't imagine anyone is suggesting changing the scenery of the Lake District, more supporting groups who don't historically use the park to see what there is for them there.

The idea that working class people would only appreciate a national park if you "plonk a butlins" there is really offensive.

Those saying Hill walking, camping etc will only appeal to certain people and similar - who are these "certain people"? Rich people? Able bodied people? White people? What's so wrong with promoting national parks to a more diverse clientele with easier transport/affordable accommodation/more inclusive advertising campaigns etc?

But it’s the same in so many places. If you turn up to a national trust property, it’s full of middle class children in Boden and Jojo waterproofs who are there for a cheap day out. These sorts of places are pretty cheap if you have a car, live nearby and I suspect the demographics are different for those living local to a NT property or the Lakes than central Manchester or London.

I suppose you could organise more free trips from schools in deprived areas or a focus on subsidised membership but I’m not really sure what else you’re supposed to do?

The problem isn't the diversity of the visitors, it's the growing shrieking for a accessibility for all that ensures the loss if diversity of an area, habits etc.

Take Mount Everest for example. It's a fucking great mountain that can kill... Yet people QUEUE to get to the summit... and die doing so. Whereupon all the bleeding hearts look for a scapegoat.

I live on the edge of a forest, a proper one. Over the last 5 years there have been calls for clearance for lorry parks, new homes, supermarkets and all sorts of stupidity. Much of it is accessible to all but there are areas with things like ravines... and there are continuing calls for these to be made accessible as the views on the other side are stunning.

So what do we do? Fill them in, then, as they are now so beautifully accessible, build a bloody housing estate? Posh houses only or a council estate? Mixed?

Sometimes a thing is what it is. We humans don't have an absolute right to everything we see others doing.

The world is fast becoming a bloody great Centre Parc

crosstalk
Surely there can't be much wrong in using some of the millions the NPs get every year to encourage a more diverse group of people to visit them?

That's taxpayer money which we have all worked hard for and paid to the Treasury. There's lots wrong with spending that money "encouraging" people who simply don't want to visit somewhere to do so, just to make the box tickers at Unesco feel better.

Surely it would help make the UK more cohesive?
How would it do that exactly?

Only appeals to weirdos who’s idea of a holiday is like something out of black adders Puritans

DP comes from a village on Dartmoor. If you don't have a car or are not fit/able to ride bikes/horses (for the former, also be able to drive the bikes to the villages in the first place, for the latter, drive to get to a stables), you will never see more than the immediate surroundings of your house, as there is no bus service (they got cut many years ago). If you are foolish enough to get old or sick, not be able to drive for medical or financial reasons, or worse still, actually need to work or access childcare, if you aren't in a village served by the two hourly bus (complemented by the once weekly single trip by a charity minibus), tough shit. You're stranded - and cab firms refuse to travel out that far from Plymouth or Tavistock, so won't be coming to get you, either.

Opening these places up by providing decent access on public transport automatically makes them more accessible by locals.

But hey, the posh bastards with their untrained dogs want it to remain a green museum, just right for their photos of the quaint Air BnB once they've picked up their shopping from the Tesco's that half the remaining locals can't get to. So that's alright, then.

I'm physically disabled. Looked into a holiday in the lakes not long ago, and apart from how packed the tourist areas are which is an issue in itself, you can't get to much of the truly beautiful places unless you can walk there. Which you can't change without destroying that beauty for everyone. That's the reality of being disabled. On the other hand there are other places in the UK just as beautiful where you can drive right to the bank of a lake or right up into the mountains and where it's not horrifically jammed with people. They're not better planned or organised, they just naturally happen to be like that. Not everywhere can cater for everyone, and that's ok.

And yes to pp that you don't spit on and put off the very successful customers you have to chase after possible theoretical customers who will be spending their money elsewhere for good reason. And to pp who said the word diversity has become an automatic turn off, for its over use, meaningless box ticking and disparagement of the majority of the population. And yyy to the NT giving the British Bake Off treatment to everywhere and destroying it in the process.

Is this white, middle-class people making decisions again?
A number of my Asian friends find the idea of hillwalking bizarre, driving into the countryside for a picnic was as far as they were able to comprehend. Walking in challenging conditions...just why?
Best way to change things is for the individuals it’s meant to impact on to be the instigators of that change.
Plus hillwalking is expensive; boots, fleeces, waterproofs and the rest.

Small things can improve access, gates are a big problem. Some areas still use styles (those thing you climb over, I think that’s the name, English is not my first language) rather than self closing gates. My boyfriend has a fairly minor physical disability, he cannot use styles or anything that requires climbing.

We went for a walk a few weeks ago in the forest of dean, a few minutes in (ten at most) there was a style so we couldn’t to any further. It was flat either side of the fence, so a self closing gate would have worked.

@CatintheFireplace Thank you for being a quiet voice of reason. FGS it isn't asking for much to make the place accessible and affordable. People are just looking to froth over nebulous 'diversity quotas'.

And yet it is a World Heritage Site because of what it us - an area of particular natural beauty and an example of a culture/way of life that is at risk of dying out and requires protection to preserve it. This is yet another example of PC to the point of ridiculousness. It is open to everyone. That doesn't mean everyone is able to or wishes to access it.

whc.unesco.org/en/list/208

There are many places on this list that either I would not wish to visit, could not afford to visit, or would be unsuitable for me with 3 small children to visit. I don't think they should adapt culturally to interest me, provide cheap transport to allow me to go or have child friendly facilities and adaptations to encourage me to take 3 small children. They are what they are, were designated because they are sites of huge importance for one reason or another and need protection- not to make them PC places.

Ummmm paint it all rainbow striped? (Like everything else is)

Those saying Hill walking, camping etc will only appeal to certain people

Well that is true. You couldn't pay me to camp and I can only manage a limited amount of hill walking.
But I think there's some controvesy over a tarmac path being laid near Blencathra.

I do thin there could certainly be Park and ride facilities a reasonable distance away as it can be a nightmare for residents

What does skin colour have to do with tourism in an area of natural beauty? Are we turning into America, where every single thing has to do with race?

I visited in summer and was actually surprised by the volume of Asian and Arab visitors. I also would say most of the white visitors were not Boden wearing middle classes either.

More accessible and usable wheelchair walks. Supports laid near other paths. More funding to off road mobility vehicle hires. These aren’t destroying the lakes, they’re massively improving it. Remember that lots of the lakes are the remains of industry, mining obviously, but they wouldn’t look at all like they do without the sheep. They aren’t unchanged from the dawn of time.

And yes, I do live tjere

Flatten it and put ice cream vans and cola stalls in of course

This is a very real concern.

There must be something going on, or the tourists there wouldn't be so overwhelmingly white.

The British population is overwhelmingly white though. Only about 14% belong to ethnic minorities. Have you evidence that tourists in the Lake Districts are disproportionately white?

There's lots you can do to make mountains and lakes accessible to people with less money or disabilities. If it was only untamed mountains and lakes at present then it wouldn't require any funding would it? I can see why they don't want to provide funding for the entertainment of people who can easily go to beautiful spots anywhere around the world/country because they're well off and mobile.

Er.. the fact that 'Richard Leafe, the Cumbria park's chief executive, said the Unesco World Heritage site must change to merit continued public funding.'.....?

"Er" yourself. A claim with no supporting evidence is just that, a claim. Not evidence.

I don't have stats, no. I could perhaps look them up but I can't be arsed. I can't even be arsed to check your 14% stat.

Right. So no evidence whatsoever.

There's lots you can do to make mountains and lakes accessible to people with less money or disabilities

I seem to remember reading some statistic that most people who go to the Lakes only venture 1 mile from their cars.

There is lots you can do - but it's so easy to dismiss opening up the National Parks to more people.

I bet that many people would have objected to the creation of rights of way access to people in the past.