Does a tourist tax hurt or help the Lake District?

Britain's stunning visitor attraction is under siege from growing traffic, pollution and antisocial behaviour. But campaigners and locals are at odds over how to stem the unwelcome overflow

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BEATRIX Potter famously once said that "not even Hitler" could damage the Lake District, such is the enduring beauty of its rolling hills and natural landscape. But now locals fear their popular national park is under grave threat from an army of tourists causing irreparable damage unless they are slapped with a controversial visitor charge to tame them.

Daytrippers and holidaymakers vastly outnumber the Lake District's 40,000 residents, with 18 million visitors a year descending on a 30-mile-wide area a higher tourist-to-resident ratio than Venice, Paris and Barcelona. With swathes of the landscape dominated by hills and mountains areas where not a soul can be seen for miles the majority cram into tiny towns like Bowness-on-Windermere for the breathtaking views.

To Windermere and Bowness mayor Christine Hallatsch, it is "both a blessing and a curse" with the economic boost of tourism tempered by litter louts, rowdy crowds of revellers and traffic chaos.

"There simply isn't enough parking to accommodate all the people who want to visit by car on a sunny weekend," she explains. "When they arrive and find the car parks full, they don't go home, but just park illegally, possibly blocking access to homes and emergency vehicles."

The mayor adds that increasing numbers of stag and hen parties have caused a "marked rise in antisocial behaviour linked to drugs and alcohol". Last year, the problem got so bad that the town council was forced to employ its own street support officers.

At the same time, police objected to plans to turn a Bowness guest house into a bar, blaming a rise in licensed premises for a "significant increase in the amount of antisocial behaviour reports and violent crime".

The number of public order offences officers dealt with annually in Bowness also shot up from 268 to 334 in just two years.