CONTROVERSIAL conservationist George Monbiot has launched a broadside at the bid for the Lake District to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Describing the national park as 'sheep wrecked', the writer and activist heavily criticised the thinking behind the bid, which is being masterminded by the National Park Partnership, which includes the Lake District National Park Authority and the National Trust.

He claims that only the farming community will benefit from the national park gaining the status, as it would simply preserve their right to continue farming in the way they do.

Mr Monbiot argued that this would 'lock the Lake District in its current, shocking state, ensuring that recovery becomes almost impossible.'

He said that the 'overgrazing' of the land caused by sheep farming - which the partnership's bid documents highlight as being a tradition integral to the fabric of the area - has led to the demise of the Lake District as a healthy habitat for wildlife.

Damage inflicted by farming that he cited includes fields grazed down to turf and rock, erosion, lack of trees, dredged rivers, bare mountainsides and seedlings nibbled by sheep.

Mr Monbiot also criticised launching a bid to become a world heritage site in an effort to preserve an agricultural industry faced with so much uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the payment subsidies from Europe.

Mike Innerdale, assistant director for the National Trust in the Lake District, said: "We are a key partner in the bid for World Heritage Site Status for the Lake District National Park. George Monbiot’s opinion piece raises fair challenges, many of which are addressed in the bid document.

"One of the main reasons the Lake District is special is because of the relationship which has developed between man and nature.

"We believe nature underpins all that we value in the Lakes, and everything that any of us might seek to achieve.

"And while the Lake District has an exquisitely beautiful natural environment, it is by no means in universal good health. We are losing soils, our wildlife has declined and our rivers are in a pattern of repeated flooding.

"We think that addressing these issues is a core priority for the Lake District and is at the heart of everything the National Trust is doing.

"The National Trust fully supports the World Heritage Site bid and hopes for a successful outcome in the summer."

Mr Monbiot has previously called for sheep to be removed from the Lake Districts's fells, sparking angry reaction from the area's farmers.

The LDNPA was asked to comment but said it was a political matter and did not wish to do so because of the forthcoming General Election.