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?

@SchoolNightWine there are cities just over 100 miles away with diverse populations. I actually ended up visiting on average once a year for 10 years because I lived in one of them.

By all means promote it to all sections of society and set up schemes to take children/old folk/disadvantaged people from all backgrounds for a visit - but I think it's just a box-ticking exercise that gets trotted out without thinking, because diversity (whilst a very good thing) is a catch-all watchword.

I live in a rural county where 97% of the residents happen to be white. A little while back, our county NHS trust trumpeted that they were on a concerted drive to drastically improve diversity and have a workforce in their hospitals that much better reflected the local population.

Now it's no secret that, whilst healthcare as a profession is theoretically open to anybody with the necessary intelligence and willing to put in the time to gain qualifications and experience, for some reason, some jobs - especially doctors and surgeons - attract a very high proportion of Asian people; and our county is no different.

Therefore, these busybody statistics-gatherers were presumably hoping to force out of a job a lot of very capable and very respected members of the local professional healthcare provision community, simply because they happened to be Asian - or, at very least, would 'positively discriminate' for the next few decades to ensure that Asians were automatically disqualified from being considered for new jobs.

Mysteriously - and thankfully - we never heard any further updates on this crazy policy. It's just so easy to shout "Diversity!" in an attempt to gain instant PC points without actually thinking or caring about addressing genuine issues where people face real discrimination and consequent lack of equal opportunities.

Better railway provision would certainly help as the majority of visitors will go by car due to the poor public transport. Such a shame that the Keswick railway line was ripped up due to Beeching as it would be another "gateway" to help share the load of the very busy Windermere area. Likewise, shame the railway service is so poor going up the coast side of the LD as again it would spread the visitors and open up more of the LD. They can't complain about so many people using cars when the alternatives are so poor. First thing would be to massively improve the infrastructure - pointless trying to encourage people not to come by car when there is often no realistic alternative.

@CatintheFireplace map reading is actually lower down on that list. You can get books which have walks in, in different Countries of the UK. Though to know that you have to be introduced to walking in the first place.

They could improve toilet facilities. I think there is only one changing places toilet in the whole of the national park. I am sick of having to change ds on filthy disabled toilet floors.
There could be more accessible paths ( and that would still leave hundreds for those who object to accessible ones). Also cyclists could keep off the existing accessible footpaths ( the ones that are footpaths and not bridleways).

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'

It’s not “a place”. It’s an environment. Wild areas aren’t accessible and the emphasis should be on making the disability more adaptative to the environment not the other way round.

I agree that making it cheaper to visit is a good thing because the kiddie classes have enough money to do what they want.

It’s also not about just walking round the Lakes in boots and kagouls or camping. Why are BMEgroups envolved in countryside management generally? Same as going to urban areas isn’t just about other people visiting to go shopping. It’s a living environment that needs its community to make it work well.

Twin inner city schools with schools in rural areas and arrange exchange visits. That way the poorer kids from country areas would get to see the national collections in London and other cities.

Maybe make the exchange compulsory. Young people from different areas in this country need to mix and learn about each other even if their parents aren't keen.

Not sure if anyone’s mentioned this yet but Richard Leafe’s remarks haven’t come out of nowhere - there was an independent review into National Park and protected landscapes earlier this year, to see if enough is being done to protect them and if the management of them needs to change, is more funding needed, etc.

One of the major findings of the review was that - across the board - visitors to national parks and Areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) are predominantly middle class and white.

I work for an AONB and we have had this fed down to us from the report that we need to start looking at ways to get people from other backgrounds and more urban areas.

It’s not just about race, it’s about making the countryside accessible to people who wouldn’t know where to start. It’s all well and good to say ‘the hills and mountains are there, go and explore them if you want to’ but if you’re an inner city teenager who’s never been for a hike in your life, it’s not that simple is it?

Christ, there are some miseries on here, aren't there?

I am sick of political correctness and box ticking now.

What, you're 'sick' of making things easier for disabled or poor people? I presume you're neither and have the luxury of being sick of it...

Why can’t the Lakes just be what they are? I happen to think that what they are is wonderful. Anyone who disagrees is under no obligation to go there

I agree, the Lakes are incredible, I spend a lot of time there myself. But people who can't get there because the public transport is poor and they can't drive, or people who can't access safe walking paths due to disabilities, aren't not going because they 'disagree' - it's because they can't. I'm not saying we should ramp the whole of Scafell, but surely making it a requirement that, I dunno, new paths built are wheelchair accessible etc isn't a bad thing?

So what, most people in the U.K. are white and able bodied. Huge numbers of people are not interested in the countryside and are quite happy watching their phones. Too many people go to this particular national park, there are many others.

It’s mainly about choice. People choose to do what interests them, what they find attractive, what facilities and services are provided. No amount of tinkering and funding is going to result in a mass visitation of the Lake District by fashion conscious, retail therapy aficionados who don’t like rain or mud, no matter what background, culture, ethnicity or religion they are. It would be like being on the set of Withnail and I with the same hilarious consequences. I loathe shopping centres and big cities, but love National Parks. Easy to get to, loads of different budget accommodation and never been more accessible, if they are your choice.

@ColaFreezePop fair enough, maybe that's my own insecurities shining through. I'm no good with OS maps (despite D of E and venture scouts) and it always make me feel a bit nervous/like an idiot!

Motorists could also be more considerate with parking, in particular not parking in bus stops.

It’s not just about race, it’s about making the countryside accessible to people who wouldn’t know where to start. It’s all well and good to say ‘the hills and mountains are there, go and explore them if you want to’ but if you’re an inner city teenager who’s never been for a hike in your life, it’s not that simple is it?

This.

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

Holy Shit this is offensive

If you're the children of poor immigrants then its quite likely that your parents wouldn't have thought to go

Holier Shit have you taken polite infantalisation courses?

Google is a thing, as is TV and other people. Another thing is poor and foreign people having access to TV, Google and other people.
It's not that they're too thick to have thought of going somewhere unless they're told they can go somewhere.

Plus hillwalking is expensive; boots, fleeces, waterproofs and the rest.

Is it bollocks! Yes, you need boots, waterproofs etc, but you can get all of that in Decathlon for relatively little and the hillwalking itself doesn't cost anything.

I do a fair bit of hillwalking in lots of places l, including the lake District, and I often notice that whilst there are always quite a lot of Asian people out on the walks, often walking in very large groups. It is also noticeable that there are not many black people though.

I don't really know what the National Park itself can change to make it more diverse though? I mean, it is what it is, as the saying goes.

So what, most people in the U.K. are white and able bodied. Huge numbers of people are not interested in the countryside and are quite happy watching their phones.

Interesting - are you suggesting that non-white, disabled people are too busy staring at their phone to appreciate natural beauty? Cos that's a weird thing to say...

I don't really know what the National Park itself can change to make it more diverse though? I mean, it is what it is, as the saying goe

They could run some adverts on TV featuring people from more diverse backgrounds.

But then again, people would probably complain about that and PC gone mad, as they do now with adverts that some people describe as 'woke'.

Yes, you need boots, waterproofs etc, but you can get all of that in Decathlon for relatively little and the hillwalking itself doesn't cost anything.

Relatively little is true - a fleece is sometimes £5, sometimes boots are on offer for £15-20, a pair of waterproof trousers for less than a tenner. But then imagine you're a couple with two kids, and that's suddenly over £100. Then imagine you don't have a car, so you'll need to get trains and buses to where you want to walk - public transport in the Lakes is sketchy at best.

Holy Shit this is offensive

It's not offensive at all! I never went to the Lake District as a kid, and knew absolutely fuck all about it until I met my DH who had been there loads as a child and totally got me into the outdoors. If I had met someone different, particularly someone who had never been there either and had had a similar upbringing to me, then I probably still would never have gone even now to be honest.

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

I was the child of very poor immigrants.

We did actually go to the Lake District once.

It rained so heavily and looked so bleak that we only stayed for a couple of hours.

Many years later Dp and I went to a wedding in the Lake District.

It didn’t look any different It lashed down with rain from the moment we got there till the moment we left.

The Lake District is open to everyone. Although it takes a certain type of person (whatever their ethnic background) who enjoy getting soaking wet and walking

@lowwintersun good points

You know, I was surprised when living in London by the amount of people that had never holidayed anywhere in the Uk, it's also partly because it is easier and cheaper to holiday abroad than in our own country. Some clue had no clue about the rest of the country

full government funding for inner city school visits -would be a good strart

It's mountains and yes there are plenty of accessible paths and activities for disabled people to get involved!

If people don't want to go there then they won't. Not like there's a border control.

Bonkers.