The Partnership's Plan - Lake District National Park

Celebrated social and cultural heritage
The character of the National Park is inseparable from the personalities, lifestyles and
traditions of its resident people – both now and in the past. It includes those who work the
land, hew its rock and help to shape the landscape, to the writers and environmentalists, such
as Wordsworth, Rawnsley and Bonington, who campaigned, and still do, for landscape
protection in its own right. The voluntary sector and those who feel a strong passion for the
landscape have played, and continue to play, a key role in the National Park.
The National Trust and movement for National Parks in England and Wales have their roots
here and this has had an international influence on the development of the conservation
movement. It is therefore true to say that the Lake District has always been at the forefront of
understanding on environmental sustainability. Lake District landscape has influenced the
work of artists such as Turner, Heaton Cooper and Schwitters, and inspired the Romantic
poets including Wordsworth, Coleridge and De Quincey.
It is associated, through Ruskin, with the ‘Arts and Craft Movement’. Its social history has been
immortalised in the works of Hugh Walpole and Norman Nicholson. Well-known authors of
children’s fiction include Arthur Ransome and Beatrix Potter. The area has its own dialects and
distinctive sports such as hound trailing, fell running, and Cumberland and Westmorland
wrestling. There are indigenous breeds of sheep and local crafts and foods, all celebrated at
local valley shows and now more widely.
1.2 Difficult decisions – ensuring a balance
The National Park is a complex place. For centuries people have grappled with the need to
balance environmental, economic and social objectives. This is a landscape rich in cultural
heritage, biodiversity and economic and environmental potential, but it constantly faces
challenges. Some are more significant than others but many are difficult to resolve.
We know we must work together recognising that:
• experts, groups and agencies offer different opinions on how best to maintain what we
all believe is special about this unique landscape.
• maintaining all the special qualities at the same time can be difficult.
• sustaining this spectacular landscape, its wildlife, cultural heritage and its World
Heritage potential, is a challenge.
So, over the next five years, we will not have all the answers. But we will address some of the
contradictions and make difficult decisions. We have to accept that finding the right balance is
not going to be easy; in some instances it might not be possible to find a balance that
everyone accepts.
And this plan will not have all the answers. Part Three considers some issues and shows
where we have made decisions. But some remain unresolved for now. Our plan is a ‘living
plan’ and we will tackle the contradictions, make decisions and update our actions.
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