Sir Chris Bonington: Borrowdale 'one of the loveliest valleys in Cumbria'
Britain’s best known mountaineer has thrown his weight behind a campaign against a holiday village in a Cumbrian valley.
Sir Chris Bonington has joined objectors to the development of ten ‘eco-lodges’ in Low Borrowdale, east of the Lake District national park. The application for the lodges, plus seven holiday cottages and parking spaces comes before the planners next month.
The Friends of the Lake District have led the campaign against the development. They own neighbouring land at High Borrowdale, which was bought by the group seven years ago to preserve its landscape and protect it from development. The group says the proposed holiday village would lead to increased traffic into the valley, which is one of few remaining tranquil areas in the eastern lakes, and has no metalled road.
More than 200 objections have been received against the proposal. Sir Chris’s letter is one of these, which include submissions from Natural England, South Lakeland District Council and the Ramblers. A Save Our Borrowdale group has also been formed.
Sir Chris, who has summited Everest and led numerous mountaineering expeditions, says in his letter to Eden District Council: “Having walked the Borrowdale valley on several occasions over the years, I believe it is one of the loveliest valleys in Cumbria, all the more attractive for its quietness and pristine quality.
“It is not surprising that it is being considered for inclusion in the national park – something long overdue in my opinion.
“I fully appreciate the need to diversify and strengthen the rural economy but this needs to be carried out on a long term sustainable basis. Even in economic terms, maintaining the pristine beauty of our Lakeland and Cumbrian unspoilt valleys must make sense, for this is why this area is such a focus for tourism.
“The Borrowdale valley is unique and should remain so, hopefully, one day, becoming one of the jewels in the national park diadem.”
Richard Pearse, planning officer for the Friends of the Lake District, said: “We welcome Sir Chris’s support in our fight to protect Borrowdale.
Low Borrowdale. Photo: Edmund Hoare
“The landscape of the Borrowdale valley is highly valued, especially by local people, as the number of objection letters would attest. This beautiful and currently tranquil valley borders the national park and its landscape is recognized as being of national park quality. We understand the need for farmers to diversify, but a development of the scale proposed for Low Borrowdale is not warranted in either economic or environmental terms.”
Natural Retreats, a Manchester-based company, wants to build the complex on the site between the A6 and M6 near Tebay in Cumbria. The firm has already built a similar development half a kilometre north of the Coast-to-Coast route, west of Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales. Its stated aim is to have holiday villages in or near the 14 national parks.
Its publicity says: “Our vision is clear and simple: to build environmentally friendly, luxury residences, founded on sustainable principles, within or close to all 14 National Parks in the UK by 2011.”
The Friends of the Lake District says it has repaired 5 km of dry stone walls at High Borrowdale, repaired three buildings, planted 10,000 new trees in two new sections of woodland, created an upland hay meadow, opened the whole site up to public access and welcomed the public on to it for talks and schools visits. The group also holds regular volunteer conservation days.
Borrowdale shares its name with its better known cousin south of Keswick. The western dale was formerly in Cumberland and the eastern one in Westmorland. Both are now in the county of Cumbria.
