Windermere Lake User Forum

Minutes of Meeting Monday 3 April 2017

Windermere Lake Cruises Office, Winander House, Glebe, Windermere.

6.30pm

Present:

Carole Shaw - Power boats (Chair)

Paul Hardman - Power boats (Vice chair)

David Hall - Sailing

David Simister - Sailing

Fiona Marley Paterson - Paddle canoe and rowing

John Woodburn - Passenger transport

Tony Ball - Outdoor activity providers

Jason Dearden - Commercial users

Roger Heise – General users and youth

Others present:

Steve Gaskell – LNDPA Jim Maguire - SLDC

Dan Hunt – Bowfell Consultants Frankie Flannigan – SLDC

Stephen Ratcliffe – LDNPA Cllr Graham Vincent – SLDC

Graeme McKee – Environment Agency Polly Straker – SLDC (minutes)

Tom Slater – National Trust

Apologies

Peter Kelly – Swimming

1. Welcome

Carole Shaw welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave a quick reminder of the remit of the WLUF.

Minutes of the meeting 26 September 2016 were approved.

2. Membership

Jason Dearden – Commercial users’ representative retires from the Forum after this meeting and will be replaced by Paul Brown - Water Sports Manager at Low Wood. WLUF, LDNPA and SLDC gave their thanks to Jason Dearden who has been a member since the Forums inception.

Roger Heise has joined the forum as General user’s representative and Fiona Marley Paterson as Paddle, canoe and rowing. All roles now full except Angling.

Election of Chairman - Carole Shaw’s 4 year term has come to an end but she stated she would be happy to continue. A proposal for Carole to continue as chair was carried by all members present. To spread the responsibilities it was agreed that tasks will be delegated to other members.

3. Consultations – existing programmes

Dan Hunt from Bowfell Consultants have been contracted by LDNPA and SLDC to review the Windermere Management Strategy. This has been circulated to the Forum, SLDC and LDNPA for comment. The previous five year plan was actually in place for a longer period. A great deal has been achieved from the previous strategy.

Dan Hunt has been looking at a future plan with more detail and less duplication. It still needs to have a strong lake focus.

Dan had produced a draft plan of 22 pages plus an action table displaying what needs to be done, showing six key issues with 7 breakthrough actions. The priority is to focus on the items that are not being covered by partner agencies.

Forum members shared a concern that the links between the partners will be lost and progress won’t be known. If there is fragmentation of responsibility and actions how can lake side issues be managed well? How do the forum influence the relationship between the partnerships?

Dan was thanked for his presentation.

The following comments were made the chair and members of the forum:

· The draft strategy does not proportionally reflect the views of residents and lake users. Around 8000 voices are heard through the forum.

· Empathic on size of challenge but don’t think it reflects the comments made.

· If the objective is to make the document more concise it still needs to reflect the things that matter to the lake users.

· Who will pull all the actions achieved by the agencies together

· Item 1 – not important

· Item 2 – There is a need to improve connectivity in the s/w of the lake.

· Item 3 – Why would the LDNPA and SLDC want to encourage more swimming Windermere? There are many quieter lakes where encouraging swimming is safer.

· Item 4 - Where in the action plan is the boat experience enhanced.

· Item 5 – Who is leading on this?

· Item 6 – Improving bio-diversity focuses on Invasive species. Who is looking at the wider water quality element? The catchment partnership has short and mid-term actions. There have been at least 7 years data and information gathering with Freshwater Biological and other independent research organisations carried out. There are years of data that could be brought together and used. LDNPA and SLDC need to look at the data and see why the pollution is impacting the fish stock and potentially reducing the food sources that support juvenile fish. People are bathing in the polluted part of the lake rather than designated bathing areas, particularly in Bowness Bay, Cockshott Point, close to the sewage outlet. Water into the lake comes from the whole catchment area, need to look at farm septic tanks. WLUF does not have the resources to take this level of research on but asks that the agencies who monitor water quality can influence the sharing and collaborative analysis of this information and data collected previously.

· How will the strategy be monitored? The forum used to meet quarterly, this was then reduced to twice yearly at the request of LDNPA and SLDC.

· The pervious strategy working group met half yearly, but the strategy refers to annual reporting which would appear to be reduced performance monitoring framework. It was felt that the reporting and monitoring meetings would need to be more frequent that annually.

· Who are the reporters and stakeholders?

· The views of the lake users are not sufficiently reflected in this document.

· How will the consultation on this document now be done?

· Key issues have been left out i.e. Jetty at Brockhole is not mentioned.

In reply Dan Hunt explained the reporting framework had not been designed yet.

The stakeholders are the Forum members. The delivery organisations are National Trust, South Lakes Rivers Trust etc.

On completion of the action plan a consultation will be on the SLDC website for a 6 week period. The final version will go back to the wider consultation group in June prior to being reported at SLDC and LDNPA committees.

Action: SLDC consultation link to be forwarded to Carole Shaw

Local Plan Review – Steve Ratcliffe LDNPA

The plan was adopted in 2010. Windermere waterfront policy programme was developed to enhance accessibility. There has been substantial development adjacent to, as well as on the lake including:

· Motor Museum

· Steamboat museum

· Improvements to Glebe

· Low Wood

· Fell Foot

· Aquatic

· Bark Barn Jetty

· YMCA Jetty

· Access improvements.

Since 2008 there has been over £45m investment and there remains significant further planned investment.

There will be a consultation at the end of 2017 on the local plan but businesses/ organisations are being invited to make any comments from now on what investment opportunities/ challenges remain.

Policy CS08 will be reviewed. No decision has yet been made as to whether it will be retained or deleted although aspirations remain for further development of public jetties, and further work at Lakeside, Fell Foot and Bowness Bay. Further improvement is required at the southern end of the lake and between Low Wood and Ambleside for pedestrians and cyclists.

World Heritage Site status will have implications– and perhaps Waterfront Policy should be expanded for the International Corridor from Oxenholme to the Lakes Line at Windermere Station and on to Bowness and Grasmere.

The Windermere Waterfront Strategic Group has been reconvened. Mains Sewerage is a barrier to growth. UU will be consulted about provision at N/W shore and South shore.

All groups should keep each other informed, Forum views should feed into the group as they were not engaged in the Waterfront at Ambleside project and none of their views were taken into account. The Forum feel they were treated badly and there have been no improvements there for the lake user.

The Windermere Waterfront Strategic Group includes all the major surrounding investors e.g. National Trust, National Park, SLDC, WLC, English Lakes Hotels, YMCA, and Aquatics. The WLUF give their views and advice but the commercial investors all have different agendas Carole Shaw feels that some times the objectives have been lost in the delivery detail, there are missed opportunities and a public demand and commercial investment does not always meet the a needs private craft water users. The forum represents over 8000 users. To include all of those with serious interests in Bowness Bay waterfront it may be necessary to hold different meetings. Lakes users such as Royal Windermere Yacht Club, Lake District Boat club and Blackwell Sailing operate in this area and their views are important.

The planning authorities consider the best use of land. A cycle way crossing the waterfront at Low Wood has been secured and discussions are being held with SLDC and LDNPA for the public jetties at Waterhead and Fell Foot.

Consideration was requested for the review to consider beach access for paddle/canoe users perhaps with secure storage that can be used as a temporary stop over.

Cllr Graham Vincent made the point that some of the revenue taken from the lake is used to support local businesses and initiatives on and around the lake. The lake is a district asset and the money is reinvested in many local projects.

A question was asked if there is a conflict of interests between the residents and visitors and should there be a resident’s representative on the forum. It was agreed that this role was covered by the general user representative.

4. Recreational use of the lake

· Wi-Fi Broadband use on the lake - Ted Walsh independent IT Consultant invited by the Chair in response to a request from the sailing representatives for better connection on the lake, made a short presentation that showed that a successful solution for the need for internet access across the lake was viable. He spoke about an alternative to 4G which could provide coverage 300m from the shore by the means of a “sector aerial” which has a radio receiver attached to the back which would pick up signals from a large area. These would be positioned on the shore and on buildings which have a good line of sight across the lake.

This could be funded either by a subscription in the region of £8 - £14 per month or be publically funded. The sector aerials demonstrated would cost £100 and the radios £70. To make the project viable you would need in the region of 600 users paying £14 per month.

It was proposed that the commercial operators could all work together to buy into one solution however the Marina’s currently provide Wi-Fi for their berth holders and it is being considered at Ferry Nab. SLDC are working on a district wide customer connect project which considers the people, the place and the platform. This is happening over the next 18 month to three years and Economic Development are considering free Wi-Fi in town areas similar to the scheme in Kendal. This is funded by advertising.

LDNPA are also looking at the Wi-Fi coverage and the main issue appears to be for mooring holders. It would need a strong business case and a lake wide business plan. A subcommittee will be set up. David Simister will chair this group, Frankie Flannigan and a representative from SLDC I.T department, Steve Ratcliffe from LDNPA and Paul Brown to represent the Commercial operators.

Action. Contact details to be given to David Simister to set up meeting

Ted Walsh was thanked for attending the meeting.

· Enforcement of Environment Agency regulations – Graeme McKee has worked for 30 years in Cumbria employed as a water bailiff for the Environment Agency. The fishing on Windermere is regulated and the bailiffs can seize vessels and prosecute any anglers contravening the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 and the EA Byelaws. A permit is not required to fish on Windermere but a rod licence must be held. A rod licence will cover up to 3 rods and you can have a maximum of 4 rods. The licence is used for data collection and as a management tool.

There are 8 officers in Cumbria looking at all the lakes. There is not a massive problem on Windermere and the amount of anglers have no effect on the Char stock. They have the use of two boats and are supported by the Lake Wardens. Further information on the byelaws and examples of enforcement patrols are attached to the minutes.

· Lockers for life jackets at Bowness Bay – SLDC have found a supplier of plastic lockers at a price of £120.00 for two lockers large enough to hold a life jacket. Users would need to provide their own padlock avoiding the need for master keys. It was decided 6 would be installed at Ferry Nab to gauge the need and more can be added if required. The locker are a modular type that can be added too as required. A lockable solution for oars is also been considered

Action: LDNPA & SLDC will look at installing lockers in the car park at Waterhead, Ferry Nab and Bowness.

Fiona Marley Paterson will look into secure oar storage.

5. Access and Transport

· Disabled access item 3 Sept 16 - SLDC have received 3 quotes for the disabled hoist for Ferry Nab. It will be installed in May 2017. The hoist will be operated by the Lake Wardens, it is DDA compliant and will be inspected and fit for purpose. There will be no charge for using the hoist but the Wardens request prior warning so they can prepare the hoist for use. It is a wheelchair sling which will lift the wheelchair from the jetty and lower into the boat.

· Increase in jetty provision for private boat users - The public jetties at Bark Barn and YMCA have been completed and are in full use. One side is commercial transport use and the other for private craft users. Only larger private boats are able to make full use of the jetties due to the design.