Lakeland walkers 'wrong colour'(British Park to axe program because it attracts white people)

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | January 3, 2005 | John Crowley

[Stoat]

Lakeland walkers 'wrong colour'

By John Crowley
(Filed: 03/01/2005)

The Lake District National Park is to axe the free guided walks carried out by over 100 volunteer rangers because they attract only "middle-aged, middle-class white people".

The scenic walks, which introduce thousands of tourists to the fells each year, are being scrapped as part of a three-year plan to bring more ethnic minorities, inner-city children and the disabled to the area.

Derek Tunstall, a Lake District National Park volunteer ranger: ‘We do this for the love of the fells’

The national park's authority said it would be able to meet Government targets to attract minority groups and attract more funding.

It said it had also taken the "hard" decision to reduce significantly the services provided by the park's 10 information centres.

Among activities facing the axe is a programme of 900 events run by 300 rangers. These include a magazine, informative talks, slide shows and children's farm visits.

The decision has "astounded" volunteers who give up their time to carry out the walks.

They say the authority is obsessed with hitting targets and that the move smacks of political correctness. They also say that thousands of novice walkers among the 12 million tourists who visit the park every year could now be put in danger on unfamiliar terrain.

In a letter informing volunteers of the authority's decision, Paul Tiplady, national park officer, said more regional and EU funding would be attracted by refocusing on the "urban young, people from ethnic communities and disabled people".

Mick Casey, a spokesman for the authority, said 30,000 people used the events programme and 4,500 took part in the walks each year.

"Our research shows that the majority who do the walks are white middle-class, middle-aged people.

"The Government is encouraging national parks to appeal to young people, to ethnic minorities and to people with disabilities.

"It is saying we ought to focus our activities on these kinds of groups."

Mr Casey said the authority had no plans to replace the rangers and the events system.

Derek Tunstall, the former chairman of the Lake District Voluntary Rangers, said it was impossible to force people to visit the park just to meet Government targets.

"How the heck is the authority planning to attract new people when it doesn't yet have a plan in place?" he added. "We accept the fact the authority wants to save money and wants to change things but there has been no consultation with us.

"We dispute the figures the authority says we attract. The only thing we know at the moment is that at least 30,000 people are not going to be looked after."

Mr Tunstall, 51, a maintenance engineer, said that last year the rangers cost the authority only £32,000 in travel expenses, safety equipment and courses.

He said: "We do this for the love of the fells. A lot of volunteers believe they have been treated shabbily."

Another ranger, Clive Langley, said: "This is an unbelievable way to manage a national park."

Mr Langley, 60, a retired chartered surveyor, also said there was a risk of more accidents if the rangers were not on the fells. "The people who return to us every year will feel slapped in the face. One woman told me she cried when she heard and says she won't be able to come now because she does not feel safe.

"While we may not fully reflect the ethnic and age profiles, we do normally have some ethnic minorities and young people from inner cities. We also run tours for disabled people."

Mr Tiplady said: "I have listened to our volunteers and I understand their concerns and frustrations. We hope many of our volunteers will want to take up this new challenge."

The decision is due to be ratified at a meeting tomorrow.

"Lots of volunteers are going to the meeting," Mr Tunstall said. "We are going to fight this all the way."

 

Leader: One step forward...

Lake District National Park

[Stoat]

This is astonishing, particularly because it involves volunteers and quite likely a very minimal amount of Government funds. It sounds like a wonderful program that helps people to get closer to nature. Such a shame that politics have to invade this situation.

[Stoat]

Race ping

[Texas_Jarhead]

some are just more equal than others I guess

[Petronski]

Shameful or shameless? I can't decide, perhaps both in their own sense. Sickening, nonetheless.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Unbelievable. The world has officially gone nuts.

[snarks_when_bored]

Prison rules apply outside prison, too:  when one group bends over, the other group gets ideas.

[shibumi]

I don't want to belabor the obvious, but I wonder if anyone has considered that perhaps young, urban ethnics (whoever the hell they are) just don't care about nature walks?

[NurdlyPeon]

Unbelievable. The world has officially gone nuts.

I'm with you. I mean this has got to be a feakin' joke, right?

[JLS]

Actually it is not really even a matter of urban or race. Young people are like me at their age out trying to interact with other young people. That means bars or other such activities not national parks for most young people.

The Labour Government can huff and puff all they want, but I suspect young men and young women will still be trying to get together and I doubt the moors are a good place for that for most people.

[GOPcapitalist]

The truly bizarre thing about this decision is that, as of the most recent census, only 2% of the UK's population is black and 4% asian - the only two ethnic groups other than white that have more than a couple tenths of a percent of the country's population.

Put another way, they're scrapping the walks because they draw more people from a demographic that makes up about 93% of the British population (whites) than they do from all other groups, which make up something around 7% of the population combined!

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Another ranger, Clive Langley, said: "This is an unbelievable way to manage a national park."

Indeed! The people managing the parks are beyond stupid. Are middle-class white people showing up for your walks? Guess what, you can CHARGE these people $5 or two pounds apiece or whatever for the walks, and fund all your other precious programs with the proceeds!

Oh, but I forgot, Europeans get uncomfortable if they might turn a profit....

[Zeppelin]

so next will they be outlawing NASCAR and country music? how about 5 star hotels? Or hockey and golf?

Ridiculous.

[Lancey Howard]

LMAO!!!
People get exactly the government they deserve.
Watch the Brits re-elect the same animals who are responsible for this disgrace.

[GeronL]

I could only imagine some of the complaints from the new 'target' groups 'You white people crazy, there ain't no bus over there, you expect me to sleep outside?? That'll get you killed where I come from. Oh and I guess you expect us to push around those folks in the wheelchairs too huh??'

[kingsurfer]

God I hope not.

I will vote Tory.

[Winniesboy]

I draw a rather different and more fundamental conlusion from this story. It certainly isn't a 'wonderful program'. One of the glories of hillwalking in the Lake District, and the other English, Welsh and Scottish mountain areas (and make no mistake it is a truly glorious activity) is the freedom to dicover it by yourself. This includes finding out the hard way about navigation, mountain weather and the other skills you need to thrive in the hills. Turning hillwalking into a led, organised and instructed activity misses a large part of the point. And if you do need advice there's no shortage of outdoor activity magazines and guidebooks on the shelves even of small newsagents in the mountain areas.

That said, perhaps surprisingly, the national parks in England and Wales (Scotland has only just openened its first national park) have traditionally been rather less bureaucratised and regulated than their US and Canadian equivalents, at least on access issues. What we don't have in the UK national parks is the whole business of access by permit to sensitive areas, policed by the all-powerful Park Ranger, or the channelling of walkers into a limited number of designated 'trails', restrictions on wild camping etc etc that you tend to find in some of the North American parks.

As for the more specific theme of this story, it is true that you don't see many black faces in the hills, which is a shame: but if this is to change, it's not a change that can ever be organised into being through some well-intentioned programme of social engineering.

[finnigan2]

The key to the whole piece is in the line, "The national park's authority said it would be able to meet Government targets to attract minority groups and attract more funding."
In other words, the authority is getting rid of the free volunteers so they can be eligible for government money to pay guides, many of whom I suspect will turn out to be relatives or friends of the members of the authority.

[shhrubbery!]

Derek Tunstall, the former chairman of the Lake District Voluntary Rangers, said it was impossible to force people to visit the park just to meet Government targets.

Though I sympathize completely with Mr. Tunstall, he may be wrong: The next step IS for the gummint to "force people to visit the park just to meet Government targets."

Why not? The gummint will confiscate taxpayers' money to fund social programs for the express purpose of gathering "urban children" and disabled people, and busing them to the d*mn parks, whether the children and disabled like it or not!

The gummint will call these programs "The Fresh Air for Everyone Act," or some such thing. In fact, I'd be surprised if such programs didn't exist already.

[shhrubbery!]

Actually it is not really even a matter of urban or race. Young people are like me at their age out trying to interact with other young people. That means bars or other such activities not national parks for most young people.

You're exactly right.

My spouse and I, who are "middle-aged white people," go on these kind of volunteer-led nature and historical outings often. Usually the only other attendees are also "middle-aged white people."

You could never drag even our own "white" children to these outings. They just weren't interested, for the reason you point out.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

Actually it is not really even a matter of urban or race. Young people are like me at their age out trying to interact with other young people. That means bars or other such activities not national parks for most young people.

Good point. I don't imagine that there are many 16-20 year olds of any ethnicity that are interested in nature walks.