I STILL find it difficult to think of the English Lake District as a World Heritage Site. When I walk, talk, or drive, I'm still smiling. Will I ever get over it? I hope not!

Strangely, I'd never considered being at the 41st World Heritage Committee, until I arrived in Krakow. Its global significance shouted from all directions; flags lining the streets, rooftop police marksmen and attending ambassadors and dignitaries from a vast array of countries.

I was humbled and honoured to represent the Lake District and its Partnership. This was the United Nations in operation, coming together to celebrate world assets transcending political and geographic boundaries.

When the chairman's gavel went down after a short debate, the English Lake District joined that elite list. Yes, we are now a World Heritage Site. And rightly so!

My heart soared and a long-held determination to do good here deepened. I was privileged to be able to address the convention, declaring a desire that the English Lake District should, and will, inspire future generations in the same way that it has captivated the world to date.

I am so fortunate this is my home and to be able to plan for a place loved and cherished by many, but possibly too often taken for granted.

The Lake District needs to take its rightful place on the global stage, influencing and inspiring people from across the world.

Perhaps some will say these words are grand, too ambitious. But this is now our responsibility, otherwise we would be neglecting the very reason for our inscription.

We must not fail our forebears, not just Wordsworth, Ruskin, Potter, Coleridge and other notables, but the shepherd, stone waller and all those who have shaped this amazing place over centuries.

For me, and countless others, it’s no longer business as usual. Our new status provides huge openings for tourism, business, civic pride and future management. We are on a new and exciting plateau where very few successfully transcend.

Opportunities are there for us to capitalise on collectively and will not appear from the ether. They need to be identified and rolled out. I'm delighted to see that tourism operators are already taking the initiative, working together to raise awareness of the inscription, both in the UK and internationally. We want visitors to stay longer and spend more.

Communities are waking up to the potential. Hawkshead has developed a scheme for its market square, but could WHS provide the opportunity for funding?

My own Parish News has already made the link between inscription and the need for churches to welcome visitors. September 8 to 10 see Lakes Alive celebrating the importance of cultural arts to society.

Yes, there are critical challenges ahead. Farming families, the backbone of so many communities, can help us manage visitors in a more sustainable way. We need to cut reliance on cars, inspire our young people to love and care for their surroundings, encourage visitors to buy in to the management of the very places they come to see.

I don’t profess to know all the answers at this stage, partly because we don’t yet know the questions. That doesn’t matter. We just need to realise an exhilarating new chapter has opened up with blank pages there for us all to script.

This is the global birthplace of the conservation movement and I am determined we become an exemplar of inspirational sustainable development that leads the world.

After a quest lasting decades, we are proud and privileged to be part of an exclusive union of world greats. We now need you to ask the questions and get involved so that we can explore this ground-breaking future together.