PROTESTERS opposed to the 10mph Windermere speed limit have vowed to continue their fight in the wake of the latest blow, reports Michaela Robinson Tate.

Angry objectors said they would continue to press to overturn the ban, and to find a way of holding the annual records week and other motor boat events.

This week, members of the Lake District National Park Authority turned down a request from the Windermere Record Attempts Committee for an exemption to the speed limit to allow the annual event to go ahead.

They also rejected similar requests from The British Classic Motor Boat Rally and the Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club, for exemptions to allow them to hold their rally and racing events.

Robin Brown, chairman of the Windermere Record Attempts Committee, said they had not given up hope of staging the event on Windermere.

"My reaction is disbelief really, that they can be so intransigent in making their decisions, and pretend that they have had a consultation when they have never spoken to me.

"I feel there's a public swell and maybe we can even get them to change their minds."

Mr Brown said his committee had not ruled out transferring the event to Coniston, where he said there was an exemption to the byelaw which would allow the event to go ahead.

Speed limit protester Norman Park of Shepherds boatyard said fellow objectors would not be ending their efforts to overturn the ban.

LDNPA member Steele Addison told this week's meeting he supported records week, and stressed its contribution to tourism.

Cumbria County Council, South Lakeland District Council, and most of the parish councils consulted had been in favour of records week, and it was unelected organisations like the Friends of the Lake District which were in opposition, he said.

National park officer Paul Tiplady said Claife Parish Council, which represented those likely to be affected by records week, opposed the exemption.

He said he did not believe there was the level of opposition to the speed limit claimed by the protesters, although he sympathised with those whose businesses were affected.

The records week organisers would have to apply to the authority for an exemption to use Coniston, he added.

LDNPA members, who rejected the exemption applications by 15 votes to seven, also turned down a request from the Windermere Waterski Association, and Windermere Chamber of Trade, to have discussions about a voluntary alternative management plan.