| So there is a speed limit on Windermere is there? | | | | of protagonists. If only a managed solution could |
| You wouldn't believe it at the moment. | | | | have been considered. One that may well have been |
| Last weekend Windermere was quite busy. Not busy | | | | able to deal with the current problems around |
| like it was before the imposition of the speed limit, | | | | Windermere such as motorbikes, bad design and |
| but busy all the same. the most striking observation | | | | terrible planning around the three tourism areas of |
| though was with regard to the number of powered | | | | Bowness, Lakeside and Waterhead. |
| boats flagrantly flouting the speed limit. | | | | Motorbikes are only a point made because, yet again, |
| There were many boats traveling around together, | | | | a small minority choose to fit 'silencers' that do |
| speeding well in excess of the 10 Knot limit. There | | | | nothing of the sort! The vast majority are perfectly |
| was also, in the northern basin of the lake, at the | | | | welcome and should be encouraged as a suitable |
| same time a Lake District National Park Warden. His | | | | source of income to the area. |
| only motive for being there seemed to be a yacht | | | | The future of power boating on Windermere? |
| which had lost its engine. Aren't they meant to use | | | | Goodness knows. The author will still remain a law |
| their sails anyway? | | | | abiding citizen. Will his children as they grow to have |
| As a long time opponent of the speed limit it saddens | | | | more autonomy? I suggest not, because if their is an |
| me that it has come to this. As a law abiding citizen I | | | | institutional failure to address the breaking of the |
| have not and do not intend to break this law. | | | | speed limit laws on Windermere, then those |
| However it is a sad state of affairs when a large | | | | institutions fail to provide leadership to the visitors to |
| number of minority groups come together to force a | | | | the lake and all semblance of a sensible boating |
| legal change and then patently fail to make sure that | | | | operation will be lost. |
| their hard work is rewarded by the result they | | | | Can a negotiated and successful legal and financial |
| fought so hard to engineer in the first place. | | | | alternative be found? If this went back to a Public |
| The future of Windermere as a popular tourism spot | | | | inquiry, I think not. There are still so many polarized |
| is not dependent on whether there is a speed limit or | | | | positions taken by the various different users of the |
| not on Windermere; no, it is much more dependent | | | | lake that it would become drowned in anger and ire. |
| on the quality of facilities such as Information | | | | Should an imposition be made through the bye-laws |
| centers, the provision of lavatories, the wet weather | | | | opening up the lake to more use by boats traveling |
| attractions for children and adults and the general | | | | faster than 10 knots? I don't know. |
| condition of the popular areas. | | | | We live in a democratic world, but who is the |
| Take for example the imaginative plans for | | | | democracy in this area? Is it the locals who reside |
| Waterhead and Lakeside. These are multi-million | | | | here and yearn for all the tourists to disappear? (Well |
| pound investment opportunities that should not be | | | | those who don't profit from them at least)? Or |
| squandered. As a group of local people we should | | | | should the democracy really be the people of The |
| show just as much interest in these as the time we | | | | United Kingdom? After all it is a National Park, set up |
| spent arguing about the imposition of a speed limit on | | | | not just for the benefit of the few 1000 that live |
| the Lake. The problem is that the so called 'Friends of | | | | within sight or earshot of Windermere, but for all the |
| the Lake District' and the numerous minority groups | | | | country to enjoy. |
| that go under the same umbrella do not show the | | | | It isn't for the author to decide, luckily. Nor is it an |
| same doggedness. | | | | easy decision, but in the era of environmental |
| Why is there no real outcry over the new plans? | | | | protection and the all the PC behavior that exudes |
| Simple really, NIMBY. So many of the groups that | | | | from all things environmental, isn't it now time to |
| fought for the speed limit imposition on Windermere | | | | start encouraging those who fly for thousands of |
| had an axe to grind. the early morning water skiers, | | | | miles to stay at home, use our beautiful resources in |
| personal watercraft in among their yachts, huge | | | | a fair and shared manner rather than excluding them |
| wash from over sized motor yachts all added fuel to | | | | and re-address the postion of Windermere among |
| the personal fires that were simmering in this minority | | | | the jewels of the United Kingdom crown? |