A COLLECTIVE of local councillors, residents, national park authorities, and MP Tim Farron have composed a letter to police chief constable Michelle Skeer to support their fight against poor behaviour from visitors whihc has left residents at 'breaking point'.

This comes after multiple incidents of anti-social behaviour at Stang End and Hodge Close in South Lakes including littering, speeding, poor parking, and human waste.

Suzanne Pender, clerk of Skelwith Parish Council, said: "It is not a new problem as it has been happening for four or five years now.

"People in the area are reaching breaking point now really.

"A child was hit by a car last year and there have been a few near misses this year.

"The behaviour has really deteriorated in the last few weeks, there has been litter, camping, and human waste left.

"It is a little lawless at the moment.

"The local authorities have been brilliant in helping with this."

The aim of the letter is to get the police to implement temporary road closures in the area to deter this sort of behaviour.

Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said: “I’m proud to join forces with the local community on this very important issue.

“It’s crucial that we protect local residents, visitors and the environment from the consequences of anti-social behaviour and damage to roads, tracks and landscape.”

There is call for a longer term solution to this though which could look like higher fines as visitors have been happy to take £100 fines as it is cheaper than paying to stay in the Lakes.

Matt Brereton, councillor for High Furness division of Cumbria County, said: “We have seen and heard of many outbreaks of abominable behaviour across the Lake District since lockdown began to ease, but this seems to be a particularly unpleasant combination of reckless, thoughtless, anti-social and downright criminal activity in one concentrated area, which residents say has felt like it has become completely lawless in recent months.

“This is totally unacceptable and we are as one as a community to say we absolutely will not stand for it. We are calling for the police and county highways officers to work with us to bring appropriate measures to bear to at the very least disrupt this shocking behaviour and claim back some modicum of control on what is normally a beautiful, unspoilt part of the Lakes, before someone is seriously hurt and this otherwise pristine local habitat is trashed permanently.

“The imposition of road closures and close multi-agency working has shown positive results in other parts of Cumbria this summer, including on the east side of Coniston Water, but we know this is not a quick fix and will require all of us in the local community to pull together over the coming weeks and months to discourage and eradicate this sort of activity wherever possible.

“People may think that the fact we are in a National Park means it’s a free-for all for anyone to come here and do whatever they want, away from prying eyes and impervious to the law.

"Nothing could be further from the truth and we will not tolerate that sort of entitled attitude.

“As a longer term solution we need to ask the Government to introduce greater protections in law for beauty spots, national parks and unspoilt habitats such as these, beefing up existing protections that usually only result in a slap on the wrist or a small fine, in the same way that greater protections for war memorials, monuments and graves have been introduced in recent weeks. Only then will the police have the powers they need to clamp down on this sort of behaviour and enforce the standards of common decency we all want to see.”