Campaigners fear that plans are being drawn up for a hotel to be developed at Whinlatter Forest

The No Go Gondola group, which is campaigning against the inclusion of a cable car passenger ride upto the forest from Thornthwaite in future plans for the National Park, says there is now a desire to develop accommodation at the visitor centre.

The group says the scheme was outlined at a recent Braithwaite parish council meeting by a director of Forest England – the organisation that runs Whinlatter.

The campaigners say Forest England (formerly the Forestry Commission) want to develop holiday accommodation as another stream of income.

A director of Forest England has confirmed they are keen to develop the Forest site – and that it could include building a cable car for visitors.

Mike Cave of the No Go Gondola group has warned that the hotel scheme could be included in the National Park Pre-Submission Local Plan. 

The Local Plan is a blueprint for the development of the National Park upto 2034.

Mr Cave said the plans were outlined at a meeting last month with Kevin May, a Forest Management Director, North England Forest District for Forest England.

Mr Cave said: “No Go Gondola’s concern is that people who love the Lake District are unaware of the potential changes that the new Local Plan could allow.

“Time to raise objections to the Plan is very short as the Consultation closes on 3rd June.

“A Mountain Lodge is a hotel by any other name and will completely change the character of Whinlatter Forest. “

Mr May said any plans were “purely at the concept stage”.

“We aren’t going to do anything insensitive to the look and feel of Whinlatter Forest.

“We don’t know the individual components of the concept at the moment, without that transport solution we can’t develop the concept further. We feel that accommodation should be part of the mountain centre going forward but we’re not at the point of what that looks like. 

“We are talking about the concept of a mountain centre. We are still exploring what the individual components are.

“At the moment I would consider an accommodation offer could be part of it, but what that looks like, we are a long way away.

“If we do put forward a concept, it has to be alongside a sustainable transport concept that relieves traffic problems at Braithwaite.”

Mr May said there was no timetable to drawing up plans for the development of Whinlatter and added that a gondola-style ski lift could still be part of the scheme.

“We are doing an appraisal of a transport solution to reduce traffic through Braithwaite and a gondola may well be part of that.

“Forestry England is keen to develop its visitor offer at Whinlatter, England’s only Mountain Forest. Expanding the current offer could support new, diverse and exciting experiences for a wide variety of visitors.

“We’re looking at innovative transport solutions and the potential to develop a world class visitor experience.

“We will be working with partners who share our aspirations, to explore the concept of a Mountain Centre at Whinlatter and will be consulting fully with interested parties and stakeholders as part of the process.”

Hanna Latty, Team Leader Strategy and Planning Policy, Lake District National Park Authority said: “We would not expect a masterplan from any developer at this stage of a local plan review.”