This is an essay about the advantages and disadvantages that arise in and about National Parks, focusing on the Lake District National Park.

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Homework                                                                                                April 2000

Extension Work

Advantages and Disadvantages in the Lake District National Park

This is an essay about the advantages and disadvantages that arise in and about National Parks, focusing on the Lake District National Park.

The Lake District is shown on the map below. As you can see the Lake District is situated in Cumbria in the North West of England.


The Lake District National Park is the largest National Park in Britain. It was established in 1951 and covers an area of 2,292 sq. km. It is home to the largest lake in Britain -lake Windermere which is an amazing 16.9km long, 2km wide and has an area of 16sq km-quite a lot of water! It is also home to Scaffel Pike which is the largest mountain in England rising to a very tall 966m. Both of these features, along with many more, encourage people to visit the park.

The Lake District is one of the National Parks in Wales and England, the others being

Exmoor

Dartmoor

The Pembrokeshire Coast

The Brecon Beacons

The Yorkshire Dales

Northumberland

Snowdonia

And

The North York Moor

7% of all the land in England is National Park Land and 20% of the land in Wales in National Parks.

A National Park is defined as an area of scenic beauty. National Parks have two main aims

  1. To preserve and care for the beautiful environment may it be coast or mountains and all the wildlife/plants in them
  2. To provide a place for recreation, relaxation and enjoyment open to everyone.

You would think it would be easy to provide a pretty, safe place for people to visit/live/work. You must think again! National Parks are at the centre of much controversy and arguments-as you are about to find out yet still manage to have many, many advantages.  

One of the advantages of a National Park are that they are a great place for people to come and relax. Anyone can enjoy a visit to a National Park-families, individuals, the elderly and so on. Some parks (although not the Lake District) are also used by the army as part of their training process. Obviously, there are farmers on the land too who depend on it to make a living.

The Lake District is a place where you can do a number of activities-

  • Walking
  • Outdoor Pursuits (e.g. Canoeing, climbing etc)
  • Going on a leisurely boat ride on the lakes (especially Windermere)
  • Having a nice picnic or day out in some of the specially developed areas or on the mountains themselves.
  • Camping
  • Water skiing
  • Angling
  • Bird watching /general nature looking
  • Power boating
  • And generally relaxing and having a great time!

Here is a map of the Lake District itself. Note all of the high land (brown bits) and lakes (blue bits)

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DISADVANTAGES

As with every national Park there are some disadvantages. These are usually roughly the same in any National Park and there is not positive way of getting rid of all the problem without banning people to go to the National Parks which kind of defeats the object.

Traffic Congestion is a major problem. The small, narrow steep, winding country roads just can't cope with the volume of traffic which is passing to get to the park. As most of the visitors to ...

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