Calls to reduce cars on Lake District roads
There are fresh calls to look a new ways of reducing the number of cars on Lake District roads. It's after congestion and parking problems during the May half term.
Friends of the Lake District says transport accounts for nearly half of the area's total emissions. In a statement, the organisation said:
"Traffic queued for miles through the Lake District during the Whitsun bank holiday. Badly parked vehicles were strewn across the verges at Bowness, Elterwater, Wasdale and Derwentwater. Bus services couldn't get through parked cars and the emergency services were unable to attend two accidents in Wasdale and on Wastwater because of dangerous parking on the single track roads.
"We have reached a tipping point where we can either embrace a radical re-think on transport within the Lake District National Park or risk destroying the sense of tranquillity and escape that this landscape has delivered for generations."
Friends of the Lake District have called on the Lake District National Park Authority and Cumbria County Council to carry out a transport feasibility study to look at options for reducing the numbers of private vehicles on the roads, whilst ensuring that everyone is still able to access the National Park via improved public transport.
The National Park Authority says it is planning for the future changes in how people visit the area in its Smarter Travel Vision.