A Keep Thirlmere Open petition containing more than 9,000 signatures which calls for the five mile stretch of unclassified road on the west side of the reservoir to be unblocked has been presented to Cumberland Council.
Mark Hatton, the man who set up the online petition, addressed the meeting of the full council and concluded his three-minute address by saying: “This road closure has nothing to do with public safety, it is all about corporate safety and corporate convenience.
“United Utilities and Cumberland Council may take comfort from legal advice that if a cyclist is killed or seriously injured by a car, bus or lorry on the diversion along the A591 then the courts will not find United Utilities or Cumberland Council liable. But the verdict in the Court of Public Opinion will be very different.
“There is still time to act now and avoid the need for a permanent road closure order. So I ask the council today to act with speed, with vigour and with the full support of local people and the wider public and reopen this road.”
Mark presented councillors with a hand-out setting out why the road, closed in the wake of Storm Arwen, should be reopened.
The council debated the matter and six councillors spoke in full support of reopening the road as a matter of priority. Mr Hatton concluded that it was clear that the council remains committed to reopening the road.
But he said that United Utilities appears to have limited appetite for constructive dialogue and cooperation on road reopening and seem to believe that a legal battle is in the offing.
In a statement made to the Reminder last week UU said it appreciated that the ongoing road closure is frustrating for local users and added that as part of efforts to reopen the road independent engineering specialists had been brought in to carry out investigations as to how Rough Crag can be made safe.
“They have highlighted that there is currently an unacceptably high risk of rock and tree falls to road users at the section directly below the crag and this risk is likely to increase over time.
“It is deeply disappointing that 22 months after Storm Arwen and the overwhelming public outcry against this road closure, we still appear to have no clear understanding of when or how the road will be reopened,” said Mr Hatton.
“In the meantime cyclists are being forced to run the gauntlet of the dangerous A591 and walkers are denied the opportunity to use a safe, low level circular route around the reservoir on days when the weather may be making the higher Lakeland fells a dangerous place to be.”
An analysis of where people live who have signed the petition when there were 8,331 signatories on September 6 showed the following:
The total by a selection of signatories living in towns within the Cumberland Council district was as follows: Keswick 424, Penrith 250, Carlisle 244, Cockermouth 183, Workington 174, Whitehaven 119, Wigton 71, Maryport 24 and Threlkeld 15.
Other “local” towns where signatories live were: Kendal 492, Ambleside 100, Barrow 173, Grasmere 21,Ulverston 81 and Windermere 116.
