THE owner of a Lake District off-roading company has rebuffed the suggestion that 4x4s should be banned on particular roads in the national park.

In a report, world heritage body ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites), advised the United Kingdom to “consider banning the use of 4x4 vehicles on green roads” in the Lake District.

The Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) says that green road driving refers to ‘the recreational use of motor vehicles such as 4x4s and trail bikes on unsealed routes with public vehicular rights.’

The ICOMOS report said the “constant use” of these roads had led to “considerable surface erosion”, and pointed to a number of other issues such as the impact of disturbance caused by the noise of the vehicles.

However, according to Nick Fieldhouse, the owner of Kankku, which provides off-roading experiences in the Lake District, off-roading has always been an “emotive subject that is easy to hijack.”

Mr Fieldhouse said: “I can, however, accept that an old Land Rover gently rattling its way along an old stone quarry road, on an adventure that aesthetically fits the landscape it passes through, doesn’t appeal to one or more persons of ICOMOS” in the same way that an “electrically powered, plastic car driven on tarmacadam” didn’t appeal to him.

He added: “We have the LDNPA to effectively manage the different ways we see and enjoy the national park.

“Maybe we should let them consider the debate about tarmac roads and gravel roads, and see which surface construction is more aesthetically pleasing, better represents our heritage, and more readily supports our freedoms.”

Stephen Ratcliffe, the LDNPA’s director of sustainable development, said that the national park’s ‘October 2019 Rights of Way Committee’ would consider “a number of management options” for two roads at Tilberthwaite and High Oxen Fells.

Regarding the wider national park, he added: “The Lake District National Park Partnership will consider the issue of 4x4 use in the World Heritage Site as a whole through the Lake District Management Plan Review, which has recently commenced.”