MUCH is rightly being made of the potential tourist boost the millions of pounds being invested at Ferry Nab and the Steamboat Museum will bring to Windermere.

As South Lakeland District Council leader Peter Thornton points out, the lake is South Lakeland’s ‘jewel in the crown’ and the transformation of two significant shoreline locations will enhance this status.

But SLDC’s development manager Caroline Leigh also makes a valid observation when she says of the Ferry Nab investment: “This isn’t just about tourists, but is about getting locals back on to the water.”

While Windermere is a magnet for many of the six million tourists who annually visit the Lake District, the lake is a valuable natural asset that should be enjoyed just as much by Cumbrian communities.

What we’ll probably never know, however, is how many young people who live in the county’s urban communities, such as Barrow and Workington, don’t actually get a regular opportunity to visit the wonderful landscape on their doorsteps to enjoy activities such as canoeing, sailing, walking and biking.

Hopefully, the proposals for Ferry Nab will ensure more families and community groups are encouraged to make the effort. The more young people who take advantage of the newly unveiled plans for Windermere the better - both for their physical health and cognitive wellbeing.

The revamped Steamboat Museum will probably prove more of a general tourist draw when work is completed in 2015, thanks to the final £9.4m of funding falling into place.

Although some have criticised the delay after the museum closed for refurbishment in 2006, the work was never going to be started without a major injection of public cash, which the Heritage Lottery Fund is now providing.

However, with the Glebe and Waterhead in mind, the two newly-funded projects should be seen, not as the end, but just the beginning for the restoration of Windermere’s shoreline fortunes.