Honister zip-wire application re-submitted

Just noticed on BBC News

Looks like they’re re-submitting with the hope of persuading the LDNPA by getting researchy folk involved. Still not a fan of the idea by any stretch.

I thought it was a pretty good idea. It was a shame it was knocked back in the first place.

Fingers crossed…………….would it be possible to run it in reverse to get people onto the hill as well?

I personally think the zipwire is a good idea spreading the lakes appeal can surely only be a good thing.

They’re hardly the most visually intrusive development – and isn’t it on the site of an old slate mine?

isn’t it on the site of an old slate mine

It’s a working mine / quarry.

That just re-inforces my point then.

The original plans if I remember rightly, go from the upper quarry right down to the visitor centre by the road so would be fairly visible across the valley, plus having a screaming person whizz down every few minutes. Then again if it’s priced the same as the ‘via ferrata’ in the quarry I doubt many folk will be able to afford it…

So – this occasional screaming person would be visible to all the folk in their cars going up and down the tarmac-covered, armco-lined roadway cut into the hillside?

Did anyone see the programme BBC4 did about it a couple of weeks ago?

Was very interesting and from watching the programme it seemed most people were for it including the Lake District National Park Authority, they just came up against some stiff lobbying from ‘tree huggers”!

Its a shame the guy whose idea it was is no longer around to see it if it does come to fruition.

@druidh This is always going to be the case where ever people/countryside meet, it’s just to what extent things are taken one way or the other. Personally, I’d rather have minimal impact, the noise aspects of the original application were the biggest issue to me.

I was lucky enough to have a guided tour of the mine with Roly who was in the documentary and one of Mark’s oldest friends. Roly talked about Mark a lot during the tour and was a really good ambassador for the mines activities and the project. The documentary didnt show Mark at his best when confronting the protestors but the Council leader was spot on when he declared their opposition to be based on not wanting to spoil the landscape and to keep it looking pretty for the walkers and effectively keeping everyone else out of the lake district.

Mark had some awesome ideas for old parts of the mine including a recording studio and theatre. Think of the Minack Theatre in terms of an equivilent atmospheric setting but 100ft underground with the potential for total darkness!…

we built an inukshuk just off the path, if anyone sees it, let me know its still there…

Having spent a bit of time riding around the area above aberfoyle, which has two of the longest zip wires in the UK, the idea that noise is a problem is completely preposterous. It’s a working mine ffs.

so would be fairly visible across the valley

So is the slate mine – both side of the valley are heavily scarred with old and existing mine workings.

the noise aspects of the original application were the biggest issue to me.

Have you ever seen (and heard) the trucks heading up to and down from the top quarry ? The noise and visibility of the zipwire would be minimal by comparison.

I was up that way riding on Saturday and to be honest, the addition of a zip line would make no difference to my enjoyment of the fells. Like others have said, it is a working mine with a well used tarmac road leading through the pass.

I remember watching the Gryff Rhys Jones documentary “Mountain” that featured Mark. I was saddened to hear of his untimely death in a helicopter accident last year. He seemed to have a real sense of pride in the mine and to see it as it is now is a credit to his hard work and vision.

I’m sorry but I don’t regard the fells as being the exclusive domain of wusers who perhaps want to pretend the real world doesn’t exist. I hope that it gets approved as it may introduce more folk to the outdoors and help sustain the mine as a working operation.

Things like this aren’t appropriate in an unspoiled, remote landscape. So Honister is absolutely perfect for it.

Mrs GDRS and I had a go on this thing in the voges two summers ago – and I found this clip on youtube of a French guy having a go.

This is now what I call a zip wire.

Sounds like the fun police at work.

We want you to come to the countryside, but you cant make any noise whilst you enjoy it. FFS come on, look at the US, they moved out an entire village so it could be flooded and turned into a watersports and leisure lake.

On reflection scrub that, too off topic for a biking forum IMO.

I don’t know the area but saw the doc …..

Fantasticable???

…………….would it be possible to run it in reverse to get people onto the hill as well

How about looping it round, so as a fat person comes down, a lightweight person flies up on another wire 🙂

this would be mint.

Was there a couple of months back doing the via Ferrara a great day for the price. They were very positive about it going ahead this time. Can’t wait.

I was initially against the idea. Probably partly because my opinion of Mark was pretty low after the stupid comments he made about OMM. However having looked properly at what they are proposing and all the implications, it has to be a positive thing for the area.

I used to be against the plan but have changed my mind now.

Noise? This would be limited to a small area of a fairly busy road pass.

Other users of the Lakes make far more widespread noise without too many complaints – I’m talking about microlights and powered paragliders – it’s like having a 2-stroke motocross bike at full throttle passing overhead at a snail’s pace! Bloody racket!

Squeaky breaks are another menace!

I was initially against the idea. Probably partly because my opinion of Mark was pretty low after the stupid comments he made about OMM.

This was my stance as well, didn’t know he’d been killed though. Just occurred to me though that I don’t really care, it won’t be a huge eyesore I suppose.

Its a slate quarry so the impact must be miniable

Its desirable that things that create jobs are allowed into the lakes

less keen on things that increase traffic. But that would include almost the things I do in the lakes

PS i did a huge zip wire in Switzerland. It was surprising dull, despite the huge speed

I did the via ferrata there and enjoyed it. fairly adventurous for tourist attraction

Zip-wire application has been rejected again[/url]:

The Lake District are going to find themselves in a very deep hole if they fail to cater for the next generation of people wanting to enjoy the countryside. It can’t survive on short walks and tea shops for ever…

Rachel

…short walks and coffee shops????

Ok, leaving aside the stats on how far the average visitor strays from his/her car, that is a little extreme Rachel. The LDNP caters for an enormous range of outdoor activities and needs to balance many conflicting interests while doing so eg, waterskiing versus noise pollution etc. Perhaps that is why it is such a successfully NP? On the whole it does it pretty good job of it. At my last count there are two zip wires open to the general public and other limited access ones. That’s not to say that I agree with the decision, just that (as the original documentary showed) its a complex issue.

It can’t survive on short walks and tea shops for ever..

Why not? As the rest of the country gets busier and busier, the appeal of such things will only increase.

Particularly if everyone has this attitude:

So – this occasional screaming person would be visible to all the folk in their cars going up and down the tarmac-covered, armco-lined roadway cut into the hillside?

and decides that the existence of a road means that building anything else is fair game…

Yes, sorry, I was being way too simplistic. I was just trying to emphasise the need to look outside the “traditional” for things that would draw in people not otherwise visiting the area. Whilst many activities do go on, many are performed despite the LDNP rather than as encouraged by it.

To have turned down something for making a noise etc etc, next to a mine, is a bit “odd”…

Rachel

Makes for a good GSCE geography case study in sustainable development though. The noise pollution is interesting though especially in the context of waterskiing on Windermere.

I understand your point Rachel but still would dispute the “despite the LDNP” bit though!

The Lake District are going to find themselves in a very deep hole if they fail to cater for the next generation of people wanting to enjoy the countryside. It can’t survive on short walks and tea shops for ever…

You know, it probably can

I’m within about an hour of the Lakes and go there fairly regularly, sometimes to cycle or walk and other times just for a cup of tea.
I don’t know anyone else [in my extended family at least] that goes there for anything much more than a stroll and a cuppa.

the open fell should remain free from man-made developments

Yeh, not like the thousands of miles of footpaths scarring the land.
They weren’t man-made were they 🙄

And of course the miles and miles of drystone wall, completely natural they are 🙄

etc etc

“Zip-wires and GoApe tree assault courses are best located in forest settings as they are in other parts of the UK.”

I can understand a tree assault course being in the woods, but how hard is it to see the appeal of a zip wire across the valley. It’d be a right laugh! It’ll appeal to far more tourists than the Via Ferrata would and bring in more cash to keep the slate mine working.

official reason given for the rejection was ‘impact on the landscape’

As mentioned, its in a slate mine!!!!
In fact, everywhere you look, you can see the effect humans have had on the land, unless is somewhere covered in native forest. “Open Fell” is in itself man-made.

Yeh, not like the thousands of miles of footpaths scarring the land.
They weren’t man-made were they

And of course the miles and miles of drystone wall, completely natural they are

etc etc

So – this occasional screaming person would be visible to all the folk in their cars going up and down the tarmac-covered, armco-lined roadway cut into the hillside?

In fact, everywhere you look, you can see the effect humans have had on the land, unless is somewhere covered in native forest. “Open Fell” is in itself man-made.

Seriously, does anyone actually believe these are valid arguments for further development? 😯

Yes, I believe that the proposed development would have a lower level of intrusion to the landscape than what’s currently there. In light of that undeniable fact, it’s nonsense to suggest it would have a significant impact.

Seriously, does anyone actually believe these are valid arguments for further development?

No, but they’re valid counter arguments to those who suggest no more development because of “impact on the landscape”, as appears to be the case here.

No they’re not.

If you follow that argument, you just continually develop ‘already developed’ things infinitely. You could just leave them as they are and not let them get any ‘worse’…

No, but they’re valid counter arguments to those who suggest no more development because of “impact on the landscape”

They’re fairly valid if your argument is there’s already been enough impactive development