Friends of the Lake District, has called for action and support for designated landscapes in a Government consultation on the future of our National Parks. 

The Government consultation has been seeking views on the proposals which include ways to improve the management of protected landscapes, boost biodiversity, manage visitor pressure and address the inequalities of accessing the outdoors.

The proposals recognise the importance of our protected landscapes for health and wellbeing. This has been particularly true over the last two years as people have come to increasingly value the outdoors. 

Laura Partington, Policy Officer at Friends of the Lake District said: "We applaud the Government’s proposals that our protected landscapes should be available to all and that nobody should feel excluded. While this needs balancing with managing visitor pressure, we are extremely supportive of ensuring our protected landscapes are inclusive and we would urge Government to emphasise this within its ‘levelling up’ agenda.

"To truly ‘level up’, people need access to cheap, reliable public transport. Among Government proposals is a sustainable transport pilot in Cumbria to develop new sustainable ways to access the Lake District National Park."

Friends of the Lake District has called for this sustainable transport pilot to be actioned as soon as possible to deliver the ‘levelling up’ agenda and help Cumbria recover from the economic effects of the Covid pandemic.