WORLD HERITAGE STATUS FOR THE LAKE DISTRICT

That this House congratulates all those involved in the Lake District National Park on being awarded world heritage site status by Unesco; recognises the efforts made over many years by the Lake District National Park Partnership who put together the successful bid; echoes the praise given by Unesco's award winning committee for the area's beauty, farming and inspiration it has provided to artists and writers; notes that the Lake District is the UK's first national park to win world heritage status; acknowledges however, that the Lake District is Britain's most populated national park; and therefore further notes the need to ensure that the park provides flexibility for local communities to provide affordable homes for local people, support farming and give local businesses the ability to gain a foothold and grow; and to this end, calls for the Government to consider introducing direct elections to the national park to ensure that the views and interests of local communities are not overlooked.