A bid by tourism traders to stage a Bowness business promotion fayre met with an icy reception from suspicious parish councillors this week.

Windermere Parish Council recommended that the Keep Windermere Alive (KWA) business collective should not be allowed to hold a trade fair at The Glebe because of fears they would use the event as a front to campaign against the 10mph speed limit due to come into force in 2005.

KWA had written to the parish council for permission to use the lakeside spot for an event on May 31, "showcasing the amazing diversity of recreational and tourism facilities within the area giving local business the opportunity to raise their profile".

The letter from KWA committee member Carole Cliffe said the aim was to put up two marquees housing displays of recreational equipment from mountain bikes to vintage speedboats. She said the event had the support of Powerboat Club members, boatbuilders Shepherds Windermere Aquatic, Windermere Marina, leisure club and holiday home operators The Langdale Estate alongside smaller businesses offering guided walks, golfing breaks, leisurewear and activity breaks.

Assurances were given that no business would be carried out on The Glebe and that information or posters regarding the 10mph speed ban would not be on site.

But a number of councillors chose not to believe the stated intent of KWA which formed as a campaign group against the 10mph speed limit.

"On face value it doesn't look like there would be a problem with this event but I can't really believe this it what they are going to do," said Coun Helen Jones who is also a member of the Lake District National Park Authority. "I know they want the speed limit reversed but there isn't anyway that can happen without going through another public inquiry. They have to understand the law is now in place." She also doubted the KWA pledge to avoid commercial transactions on the site.

Coun Gill Cranwell, who is also an LDNPA member, agreed with her sentiments: "I have looked at KWA's literature and I would feel that the inclusion of such things as cycling and walking, leisurewear and golfing breaks is more or less a spiel to make us think it could be genuinely about diversification. We know from their website, their leaflets that this is a group that is determined to throw out the speed limit."

A pledge to donate money raised from the event to Kendal special needs school Sandgate was in Coun Cranwell's view being used as a "sort of moral blackmail".

She also hit out at "false accusations" on KWA's website that a ban on mountain biking was the LDNPA's "next target". They were "totally ludicrous claims to frighten people", she said.

But Coun Lisa Greasley believed her fellow councillors were being "overly suspicious".

"I think we should take this letter at face value," she said.

But the doubters held sway backing a motion from Coun Cranwell opposing the KWA event by ten votes to three with one abstention.

South Lakeland District Council has the final say on whether to give the event on council land permission but it is bound to take note of the parish council's views, so effectively the KWA has had its trade fair ambitions dashed.

KWA member and Shepherds Chandlery manager Norman Park said he would have hoped the parish council could support attempts by local businesses to diversify their activities to cope with the 10mph limit. He maintained that The Glebe event was not about anti-limit campaigning but was a chance to showcase developing sports that can be carried out at slow speeds such as wake boarding and parascending. He further objected to councillors' references to KWA's website the organisation does not have a website and councillors were confusing them with a separate organisation the Windermere Action Force, he said.

The parish council ruling alongside the LDNPA's decision this month to reject a planning application from The Low Wood to build a new "multi-purpose" centre to replace its water ski buildings was to his mind further evidence the park authority wanted rid of power boating altogether.

"Our business is being pulled out from under us by the national park authority and those who agree with them and we are being told diversify, diversify' but at the same time businesses like us are being held back by planning decisions."

Carole Cliffe said KWA would now look for another site to host its event.

May 1, 2003 13:30