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?

Surely it is about how it is marketed?

I was curious and took a look at the main website for the Lake District.

Almost every single photograph on the pages i clicked on used to illustrate the different activities features white people.

I only found 2 images which included BAME people, and they were buried deep in the site.

I can see the torn binbags of rubbish strewn on picnic spots and bags of dogshit hanging in bushes already. The reason half of us go to the Lakes is to get away from people like that.

And NO they don't want more transport links because it already struggles at peak seasons. Imagine the influx of summertime pissed up dickheads if suddenly they had frequent train operationsnto abuse then too.

I can see the torn binbags of rubbish strewn on picnic spots and bags of dogshit hanging in bushes already. The reason half of us go to the Lakes is to get away from people like that.
Poor people and the disabled are responsible for littering?

Crying that happens already. Being a thoughtless dick isn’t confined to a particular class.
The two cars blocking a road while they sorted out a cracked wing mirror with a lay-by 50 feet away last week were very posh and expensive and their owners extremely well spoken. I’d ban twats like that before I’d ban a coach full of children from a disadvantaged background tbh.

Just heard this on Radio; news. Utterly ridiculous. What are they meant to do, put on hourly busses from Leeds, Bradford and Manchester? Build a shopping centre and a sports stadium? As a walker, the reason I go is because no bugger else is there!

Wow some really horribly snobby responses here from people like @Cryingoverspilttea people on low incomes must only be interested in getting pissed and lobbing rubbish everywhere?

@Cryingoverspilttea do you think people who are not white, middle class and able-bodied are more likely to litter and hang bags of dog shit in trees? Because that's what your post implies.

It's really quite scary how a judicial review over 4x4s on fell trails and a vote of no confidence passed by a town council over a tarmac path can be used to whip people up into a froth about minorities and people being PC.

I think the comments made by Richard Leafe were giving more context about why the 4x4 access and tarmac paths were necessary.

Unfortunately certain sections of the press have taken those comments and warped them out of all proportion.

It's people with attitudes like Crying that put people off visiting the lakes. Getting rid of her sort would be a start.

My grandmother was part of a hillwalking club for most of her life. When she became elderly and disabled, we took her to the Lakes and went around one of the walks that had been made wheelchair accessible. Similarly there are other walks that are particularly suitable for young children.

I’m very grateful that the parks have been made more accessible. I don’t see that having a few walks designed to suit disabled people is a huge environmental scourge or lessens other people’s enjoyment of all the other more challenging walks.

The vast majority of hotels will have disabled access and a good number of holiday cottages too.

A great example of the invisible barrier here.

Disabled access isn’t enough. We tried booking a trip to the Lake District. Fell at the first hurdle which was finding available accessible accommodation. Very few fully accessible cottages with wet rooms, hoists and suitable space, seating, beds. As a result, they are booked up very quickly. Hotels have none of these either, and not a single one we tried had connecting rooms so we couldn’t stay together as a family.

There are 48 'miles without stiles' routes some* of which are accessible”

Great, we can see “some” bits.

This is the problem. A little bit has been done so people think it’s job done.

Accessibility improvements start from people sitting at home planning their trip. There is loads we can do.

As the Chair of a community trust I'm well used to having the answer the 'diversity ' questions in funding applications. There are loads of different way to show diversification. The disabled are not only wheel chair users but also include these with mental health problems and sensory issues. So there is much than can be done to include these groups and make facilities more disability friendly for instance.
The other thing I would say that's particularly relevant is the fact that so many city dwellers within easy reach of the Lakes never go. Especially from ethnic minorities. So I think spending money on school and community trips plus 'camps and or resorts' which are funded for disadvantaged communities could improve diversity. Also the promotion of more outdoor sports in inner cities could do with more funding.

Ultimately either the great outdoors appeals or it doesn't

^ That's exactly it.

Improving access (as much as is feasible in a place full of lakes and mountains) for the disabled is essential, but you can only make people aware of a place to visit. You can't make them want to go.

To be honest, having visited the lakes in mid-summer, the place is absolutely heaving with tourists of all nationalities so I don't know how the infrastructure would cope with even more.

But MintyMabel there are some bits I can’t see either! Striding Edge, for one. Totally take your point about accommodation but there are always going to be parts of the Lakeland landscape that not everyone can, or should, be able to access. I count 4x4 excursions in that, because it shouldn’t become a playground for people who can afford to hire vehicles such as those (and people who can afford that sort of activity aren’t the target demographic for more engagement with the area). Likewise stringing up zipwires wherever a company fancies I.e. Thirlmere.

My parents never took me either (they've never been), my kids have been (I worked it out all by myself) they hated it until they saw a snake which gave a few minutes of excitement.

Good for you.

I'm just saying it's disingenuous to be pearly clutchingly horrified at the suggestion that lots of people often stick to the kinds of things their own family or social circle like to do.

No one was saying that anyone wasn't capable of doing things on their own.

SpaceCadet4000
Some of this stuff is as simple as tweaking marketing materials to get bigger reach in groups which are under-represented in visitor numbers.

Why does the breakdown of visitors to the Lake District have to "represent" anything?

There's a FB called I love the lake District that I'm on and some.of the views on there are frankly disgusting.

I can't ever see things improving for disabled and poor people until attitudes change........personally what I would like to see is a limit on cars entering the national park, similar to the congestion zone in London. This could be invested massively in improving facilities and public transport to the more remote areas and cut down on some of the pollution being pumped out by the millions of cars that pass through ironically to breathe in the supposedly clean air..

the Lake District 'change and diversify' because it is too heavily weighted toward 'white middle-class able-bodied people'?

I think I've heard it all now.

Stormzy could do a Wainwright rap.

Nah, prefer JayZ..

There are far too many areas in the UK where white middle class folk like to bury their heads in the sand with their way of life and are unwelcome to any”outsiders” as they see it.

Do you think everyone who lives and works in Cumbria is middle class? Or that the huge proportion of people relying on the tourist industry here are remotely interested in the ethnic background of the visitors? The only negative thing I ever hear locals say about tourists is that the traffic is awful in places.
Also ime the more middle class the locals are, the less likely they are to care about anyone's race or nationality. According to my dc, the kids at school with racist or homophobic views are pretty much always the farm kids and the ones from the less middle class, less touristy areas. The middle class ones from the lovely tourist-trap bits tend to be more cosmopolitan and used to seeing a bit more diversity .

My dd also has cerebral palsy and like zampa, the early years were pretty easy in terms of accessibility - if you can carry a rucksack, you can carry a baby or toddler (with a few strategic adaptations for support). Once they get too big to carry, you enter a sort of forcible eviction period (through no fault of anyone’s, really). We spent a few years wondering if it was fair to leave dd behind and take her two able bodied siblings into the mountains. We looked into options for equipment and additional gear that might enable her to join us. It’s pretty hard. Unless you HAVE been someone that regularlybackpacks/ climbs mountains/ hill walks, I think it’s hard to figure out. (I was MWLTB trained guide.)
Anyhoo.
We are currently living in the Rockies. Dd is a member of an organization that promotes mountain sports and recreation for people with disabilities (she’s actually a spokesperson and does a lot of public speaking at fundraising events to raise awareness and cash to support access, despite her speech being affected).
I imagine most of their processes are similar to the Calvert Trust. Obviously as a charity they write grants for equipment, staff training, as well as operational costs. Of the thousands of people who access the mountains every year, the majority would not be able to without the funding. (This covers the costs over and above those normally associated - the adaptations to kayaks, the trail-riders to get people who cannot walk up mountains, the hand-cycles, the sit-skis, as well as the specialist human support). What it doesn’t cover is the sheer amount of volunteers - getting one person in a trail rider up a mountain takes a team to push, pull, and carry. Depending on the route, it takes two teams, so they can spell off. The organization runs mountain activities for individuals and groups, those disabled since birth, those with acquired disabilities. They concentrate on children and youth programming, but also run camps for adult groups, and support families with members with disabilities to access the mountains.
What it doesn’t need is adaptations to the countryside. What is key here is an accessible base (the government owns a fully accessible purpose built lodge in the back-country which disability orgs can book) and a large amount of equipment, transportation, specialist advisors, and an absolute shitload of volunteers (because obviously no one can afford to pay for the help they need).
All the ‘pave paradise’ jibes against those with disabilities here is making me distinctly uncomfortable. Take a look in the mirror and thank whichever deity you prefer that you haven’t had to consider that your child won’t get to experience what millions of others take for granted.
It just takes hard graft. Not destruction. I honestly despair that there is so little thought that goes on. Access doesn’t have to mean fecking Stana stairlifts up Ben Nevis (although that infernal train up Snowdon was dd’s first mountain experience when she was still portable. We hiked down in a blizzard
All of you making snide comments that disparage my child and others need to consider whether a new year’s donation to the Calvert Trust might be in order. Call it Karma placating.

We need as much as possible to keep anyone away who will drop litter and make a noise and secondly make it very hard for people to get around so it remains a place of silence, peace and isolation. Many people go there so as not to see others.

One reason I prefer the most isolated parts of Northumberland is the absence of facilities and absence of people.

Always pick a beach with not a single shop, sign, facility, lavatory and ideally a 30 minute walk over dunes to get there and you get the best beaches in the UK and those with no one on. Works every time.

And in my book I am an equal opportunities avoider - I want to avoid you if you are fat, thing, disabled, black, white, British or otherwise. Solitude rules okay.

No ones clutching pearls.

I have an issue with the idea that going to the countryside for a day is something people are being denied because they're disadvantaged, or else they'd be doing it.

It appeals to certain people, The rest of us not wanting to go isn't because no-one has explained the alleged 'benefits' and we're too disadvantaged to work out that going will allow us to sup the elixir of being WMC.

It's because a lot of us don't want to go. Internet, home comforts, the same things that killed the high street are reasons why people don't want to go out into the cold.

Not going because your poor immigrant parents were too poor and foreign to take you is an offensive mindset.
That was the comment I replied to.