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?

Is it not a bit impractical to attempt to make absolutely everything available to absolutely everybody

Yeah. So let’s just not try and widen access at all.

should we return the A66 to a gravel track, or is tarmac only a problem if it’s for people to walk on? Erm... OK. If that's your level of debate.

Apart from the fact that accessible paths are NOT TARMAC... where does it stop?

JontyB - if girls grow up only seeing male doctors/lawyers/bankers do you not think that would make them less likely to join those professions? Don't you think that's sad? OK so where you visit on holiday doesn't have as much impact as a career choice, but it still has an impact. Being outside in nature is good for mental and physical health. Plus we all pay taxes towards the national parks.

Disability apart. What is stopping people of different ethnic backgrounds from going to the Lake District

@CuriousaboutSamphire problem providing better bus services wouldn't destroy the habitat.

One of the times I went a group of us decided to leave early but none of us had a car. We then discovered the "wonders" of Lake District public transport.

Is it not a bit impractical to attempt to make absolutely everything available to absolutely everybody?

Who has suggested that everything needs to be accessible to everybody?

Expanding access beyond a group which is predominantly MC white is not flattening the lake district or covering it with nasty common people its improving some basic transport, access and information services.

Have a look at the advertising for most of our national parks. Most of those pictures are posed not casual and yet to look at them you would think we lived in an entirely white, predominantly comfortably heeled society. They appear in media consumed largely by the same group.

Yeah. So let’s just not try and widen access at all. Yeah. Let's just sound bite a poster and ignore the rest they posted!

Too much tarmacking and changing natural landscapes has contributed to the devastating flooding seen twice in the area mentioned in the last decade. So I'm in agreement with opposing tarmacking of a path that will be accessible anyway, just of a material not as smooth as tarmac, but better for drainage.
Transport is an awkward one - yes, I'd love to see more parking places, more buses, etc, but some roads are too narrow for even minibuses, and with our cars getting larger all the time, there's not enough room for cars to pass on many of the minor roads. To widen these roads would alter the landscape and use fields that farmers work, all because we want bigger cars or expect access to a particular area.
We do have brilliant organisations here that make the lakes accessible for all - Calvert Trust being the first one I thought of - as well as many guides offering guided walks in the mountains. They can advise the best places to stay, park, routes to drive, etc. Maybe these services need to be promoted more by Richard Leafe!
Oh and yes there is likely to be more white people using the lakes and mountains - lots of them will be locals who live here and Cumbria's population is about 95% white (last info I could find was 2004 so hopefully this will have dropped by now) compared to UK average of 82%.

@Oliversmumsarmy nothing stopping me, my family and friends as some people, like PPs
who have explained taking diverse groups of urbsnites, introduced us to walking in the countryside. We then had fun telling foreign friends this what they must do to have a full British experience.

@ColaFreezePop why aim that at me? I haven't mentioned traffic, I was posting about walkways.

Public transport should be improved... and private vehicle access heavily proscribed.

Well let's give everyone who is not white, is working class or disabled a free B and B for a week a year, or a free week's camping - tent and all equipment provided, free transport to get there, build motorways to each lake and hill, tarmac paths to the top of every hill, and escalators for those who don't want to hike, or perhaps virtual reality hill walking experiences built next to every hill, or free electric quad bikes, free wifi and a gluten free, organic, halal, vegan, nut and dairy free cafe at the top of each and a MacDonald's. Let's get rid of all the sheep incase anyone is allergic to wool, and turn the fields into tarmac skate parks and car parks, knock down all those little houses, farms and cottages because they are so unfriendly to anyone not white and middle class and build blocks of flats instead with lifts and a takeaway on the ground floor so no one has to cook. It is all utterly ridiculous. We seem to be saying that WHS - which are designated because of being how and what they are- should now adapt to cater for the obsessions of modern society.

@Oliversmumsarmy - I'm sure there are lots of reasons but one will be that they don't know much about it because they never went as a child and not their social circle. If you're the children of poor immigrants then its quite likely that your parents wouldn't have thought to go, and so it carries on through the generations.

Poor attitudes and ignorance about what is required to help people.

So the answer to the question, “What are the invisible barriers that stop people visiting the Lake District?” is, “Not understanding the invisible barriers that stop people visiting the Lake District”.

At a loss really bad transport poor, public services and very little industry it the same for everyone not just certain groups.

@CuriousaboutSamphire you mentioned better access, and that includes being able to get to and from the place not just while you are at the place.

White People Making 'Woke' Decisions That Black People Will Be Blamed For again.

IDGAF about Lake District & don't know anyone who does. I mean I've been there but it's not in my mind apart from it's a beautiful area and I had a good time. I can say that about many places. What's he going to do, force us to go there? 🙄. Idiot

. Let's get rid of all the sheep incase anyone is allergic to wool

you say that... one local attraction has ducks, geese etc. TripAdvisor reviews often mention them negatively. Apparently they get in the way and poo everywhere!

Such people do exist!

Short, well-surfaced beginner walking routes are a great way to get people who aren’t Serious Walkers to enjoy a day in the countryside, and we should have more of them.

Of which there are already plenty. When our son was born, we bought a book full of "child friendly" walks, many of which were flat and suitable for a pram. As he got older, we graduated onto the "fun" children's walks where the book included "treasure hunt" style clues for children to look for and help them learn to map read. The steam trains have accessible carriages, the large boats are wheelchair friendly. Plenty of ways to enjoy the NP without having to climb a mountain.

We were 'lucky' enough to spend 5 days on a boat at Windermere in July (never again) we only managed 3 before booking an air b&b right up near Whitby. Was pretty diverse the few days we were there though.

Getting out of the cities and into nature is good for mental health. And physical health.

I know from working in inner city Leeds with primary children how few of them got out of Leeds. That's not good for anyone's mental or physical health.

I doubt many of them got to the Dales or the Peaks, let alone the Lake District.

We have a car - and we like camping - which makes day trips and weekends away to these places so much easier.

Plus - it's something that I've always done.

It is something you notice when you go out walking in the National Parks.

and so it carries on through the generations

Jesus Christ. It’s a miracle anyone ever goes anywhere.

I met a black guy a few months ago who had not only in some miraculous kind of way discovered the Lake District (without any apparent help from his parents), he’d actually moved there. And appeared to be enjoying it. Despite the racism, obviously.

DH and I both grew up in poverty in council estates. me in the suburbs of a city and him in a rural village. We are white just like the vast majority of the population. Before we got together, my main experience of countryside was the tame hills around my home and going on bus trips to the highlands. I wouldn't have visited the lake district or camped or gone serious hillwalking and I very much viewed myself as a city person. However as he is very much a countryside guy and was confident in being in the hills and mountains and we drive, we've been all over the lake district and scotland and wales doing things with our DC that I never would have. However, we aren't that poor working class type family that we grew up in and besides boden wearing, probably fit the rest of the demographic (DC had proper walking boots etc)

So, i don't think it's necessarily that there is anything wrong in what the Lake district offers or how it offers it, just that the majority of the ethnic and probably disabled population live in towns and cities and don't necessarily view it as their type of holiday.

I agree that better rural transport and accommodation options might help.

Better (and cheaper) public transport to get to Cumbria in the first place would help.

We drive up but I’d prefer to get the train. However it costs an absolute bloody fortune.

Once you’re up here then improved transport between the towns/villages would help. But I don’t think that every fell and mountain needs to be accessible by every means possible. It just isn’t logistically possible.

@ColaFreezePop fair enough. I'll be sure to type pathways, walkways in future.

@Jillyhilly
Cost
Lack of public transport
Not being able to read a map
Not being aware that it's actually there!
Fear of the unknown - e.g. never having camped before
Racist locals (or the fear that locals might be racist)