The proposal for the Honister Pass has been approved by the park authorities. But profit cannot triumph over beauty
The Honister Pass, from Borrowdale to Buttermere, links the two loveliest places in England. It is a ravine of exquisite ruggedness, a retreat from the crowds of Windermere and Keswick. In the national gallery of scenery, Honister is the Mona Lisa. To whom does this beauty belong? The answer is supposedly to us all, guarded by the Lake District national park. But it is claimed by a company that, it appears, wishes to exploit the existing slate mine at the pass’s summit with a kilometre-long zip wire down one side of it. The structure would be on the slopes of Fleetwith Pike, in the heart of wildest Cumbria, backing on to Pillar and Scafell and looking across to Dale Head and the Cat Bells ridge.
The mine’s present owners run it as a successful tourist business, which I admire. Their plan to increase their appeal with a zip wire has been twice rejected by the park authority as harming “the remoteness, tranquillity and wildness” of the pass. The owners, it seems, refused to accept this, and the authority has now caved in and let them go ahead. The only hope lies with the planning minister, James Brokenshire, calling in the decision.
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