Fresh Air, Anyone? Lakes And Peak District Consider Tourist Car Bans In Busiest Areas

For most of the years he explored his beloved Lakeland fells Alfred Wainwright arrived by bus, carefully timing his descents so he never missed the last service back to Kendal.

- Helen Pidd

For most of the years he explored his beloved Lakeland fells Alfred Wainwright arrived by bus, carefully timing his descents so he never missed the last service back to Kendal.

Thirty years after his death, more than 90% of the Lake District’s 19million annual visitors arrive by car, seeking – perhaps ironically – the unspoiled views, clean air and stunning scenery Wainwright extolled in his pictorial guides.

Now, in a move that might prompt a smile from the curmudgeonly AW beyond the grave, tourist cars could be banned from some of the most popular parts of the Lake and Peak districts next summer as they struggle with surging demand from domestic visitors.

Across the UK national parks are grappling with congestion and their climate commitments. Unable to limit visitors via entrance charges, as their US counterparts do, they are looking for solutions to an increasingly unsustainable problem.

“It feels like we are at peak car,” said Richard Leafe, the chief executive of the Lake District national park (LDNP). “I want to see less reliance on it into the future. It cannot go on getting worse otherwise it really will become too much to handle in our national parks. We need to see a shift to more sustainable travel.”