Stickle Tarn and Pavey Ark

Posting on Twitter, Liberal Democrat MP for

Westmorland and Lonsdale, Environment Spokesperson and President of the Lib Dems, Tim Farron said "I've tabled this motion in Parliament calling on the Lake District National Park to drop plans to sell Stickle Tarn". I nearly fell off my chair! The statement seemed clear enough that he was calling for LDNPA to drop plans for the sale, no if, no buts and no reference to the National Park budget slashed by the coalition. Given Mr Farron's well known and public support for hill walkers, mountain rescue and outdoor recreation it was entirely in character to make such a call but at the same time it was a very direct and unambiguous call for a politician. On closer inspection, however, it got very ambiguous.

Stickle Tarn

Rather than calling for LDNPA to "drop plans to sell Stickle Tarn" the actual motion Tim Farron MP has presented states;

That this House notes Stickle Tarn in the Langdale Pikes is widely regarded as one of the finest beauty spots in the Lake District National Park; further notes that the Lake District National Park Authority intends to sell the Tarn for a price estimated to be between £20,000 to £30,000; welcomes the opportunity provided to local communities by this Government via the Localism Act 2011 to register such sites with the local authority as assets of community value; further welcomes the fact that the Act allows local communities to bid to acquire such assets; celebrates the initiative and hard work of the Langdale Valley Association in seeking to register the Tarn as a Community Asset; and expresses support to the Langdale Valley Association's campaign to raise funds to buy the Tarn for the benefit of the local community.

Not a single mention of halting the sale whatsoever. In fact the motion to all extents and purposes approves of the principle of selling Stickle Tarn, validating the sale by supporting a community led buyout. To be fair to Mr Farron he did respond when questioned about the lack of any reference to appealing for the sale to be dropped in the Early Day Motion and was prepared to enter into an online discussion. Unfortunately, however, his next declaration was almost as erroneous as his inital post, stating that "To make it a community asset stops the sale...unless to the community." ! Oh dear, surely a member of the overnment who enacted the legislation should know better? The registration as a an asset of community value under the Localism Act doesn NOT halt the sale. It gives the community first option to raise the asking price within a period of 6 months. If for any reason no communiy bid is made in that time, matching the asking price, the "asset" returns to the open market. e goes on to say "We are talking about 30k here. Not a massive sum in the circumstances" and "as I said...it's about priorities and where you spend your money and what you cut.." which in my eyes is not calling for the sale to be halted but tries to justify it on the grounds of its low monetary value. Mr Farron does also go on to add "I do not think any of these assets should be sold off and would back any community campaign to the hilt on this." and we agreed that ideally neither of us wanted to see Stickle Tarn sold. The problem is however, that neither is this what he's asked in the Early Day Motion nor is it what he tweeted that he's asked in the Motion!