A RADICAL step which would see the Lake District National Park Authority working to develop the region's tourism industry for the first time has been criticised for not going far enough.

Members of the authority voted to accept a 35-page report called Promoting Sustainable Tourism which brings together the authority's existing tourism policies and activities.

The document is the first "tourism statement" in the LDNPA's 54-year history.

Traditionally the authority's duties have been to "conserve and enhance" the park. It now wants to be involved more "proactively" in the future of tourism in the national park.

But LDNPA member Jim Bland, who is also a Cumbria County councillor representing the Lyth Valley, claimed that the report did not go far enough.

He told the meeting that communities in the Windermere area were still struggling in the face of the ten mph speed limit on the lake, "It (the speed limit) may not affect the north of the county but it has been a bombshell on the area I represent at Cumbria County Council. This is not going to fill that gap by any means," he said.

But David Thomas, a member from Silloth said that displaced water skiers from the lake would be welcome in the "poor" north of Cumbria rather than in the "fat" Windermere area.

Mr Bland hit back, saying: "Some of the poorest areas of the county are in Windermere and some of the poorest paid people are in Windermere."

Workington based member Allan Clark-said that the opportunity to debate the ten mph speed limit had passed and advised the members to discuss the matter in hand.

"To rake that up doesn't make any progress," he said.

The report, which has been written by LDNPA Recreation and Tourism adviser Helen Houghton, states that the Lake District's tourism industry has an image that is beginning to look tired.

"This is also coupled with increasing visitor dissatisfaction with facilities."

The document also lists the challenges facing the national park in the future.

These include: adapting to changing recreation and leisure pursuits, meeting visitor expectations of better quality standards including accommodation and public places as well as maximising private investment through the planning process and planning for climate change.

CUMBRIA Tourist Board chairman Eric Robson said he welcomed the fact that the LDNPA wanted to put tourism higher up its agenda.

"Many of our members have hoped for a step change in the way the National Park Authority views tourism and its importance to the fragile Lakeland economy, and this seems to be a step in the right direction," Mr Robson said.

The report will now be passed to tourist businesses and operators throughout the Lake District for consultation about the LDNPA's role in the tourism industry.