Sir, Kent Brook's letter regarding the Lake District National Park (Letters, December 24, Preserving national treasures') ignores several vital issues regarding the development of the park, and the changing attitudes and strategies of the park authority itself.

It also uses issues such as changing agricultural practices and economic climates, and the lack of affordable homes for locals and the banning of foxhunting, to garner support for flawed arguments for reducing tourism and specifically, banning pursuits such as water skiing and off-road driving.

The national park was never a "wilderness park" as are many of those in the United States, and has an historic background of being used as a "theme park", as Mr Brooks calls it. The Windermere Steamboat Museum is full of examples of how people have used Windermere in the past racing, speeding, and parading. One common practice was the firing of canons from boats and landings on Windermere and Ullswater too. These practices have been embraced by locals and "offcomers" alike.

While Mr Brook's motives in preserving the park are admirable, just which stage in its history does he actually wish to be the point it should be returned to? At what point does an offcomer become a local? In the 1841 census, the population of Applethwaite was some 436 people. Windermere boasted over 5,000 by 1911. Wordsworth may have wished to preserve the area he foresaw being despoiled, but for that to happen, the measures being promoted now would have had to be in place before 1841, and Wordsworth's views have no relevance any longer other than a historical opinion.

In an age when we have to ensure that minorities have to be represented, and have access guaranteed to them, his arguments against those wishing to water ski or drive off road are also no longer valid although I take issue with his argument that supporters of water skiing are either a minority or mainly off-comers.

However, those he describes in his closing paragraph - "those who come to seek out the land of peace and quiet, the land of Wordsworth and the fell farmer, and perhaps appreciate the beauties of small things such as lichens on a rock or twisted alders by the beck" - are almost certainly in a minority. I have never seen any visitors or locals examining lichens or twisted alders in this manner, and the Lake District National Park Authority has seen fit to propose disbanding the guided walks once enjoyed by many who might just possibly have leaned that way.

Supporters of water skiing are not seeking to ski on all the waters in the lakes, just the one to which they were encouraged to by the LDNPA in previous inquiries at other lakes. This is not the lake our forefathers knew. It has been changed and altered over time by all sorts of parties, and nothing would be lost in keeping it open to all forms of water sports.

Let people today who want a theme park look elsewhere where these activities also can be had, states Mr Brooks. I, for one, am not looking for a theme park. I and many others just want Windermere leaving as it is now.

To return it to anything else is too late you cannot undo years of history and development without stormtroopers or an non-elected dictatorial quango such as the LDNPA.

E. Alan Marsh, Windermere