A visual impression created for the developers of how the zip wire will look from the west shore of Thirlmere. Image: Treetop Trek

Conservation charity the Friends of the Lake District has issued a statement on its position towards planned developments at Thirlmere.

It follows what the organisation said was an innacurate post on the Thirlmere Activity Hub Facebook Page earlier this month.

The Friends reiterated they oppose the building of zipwires across the reservoir but would support the establishment of a cycling track alongside the water if it was designed sensitively.

Treetop Trek, which operates a high-ropes and zipe wire leisure area near Windermere, is hoping to build the adrenalin-fuelled ride across Thirlmere and the main A591 Lakes road and a cycleway round the reservoir shore.

The charity said a post on the Activity Hub social media site said: “Its [sic] great to hear that Friends of the Lake District have worked constructively to suggest to the promoters that Thirlmere should be considered as a suitable location. For once I agree with then and cannot think of a better place within the LDNP for a 1km+ zip wire facility.”

The Friends said: “We contacted Tree Top Trek on 18 October to inform them of the inaccuracy of this statement, asking them to remove it from the post.

“Our request was refused by Tree Top Trek so we made the following direct comment underneath the Facebook post on the Thirlmere Activity Hub Facebook page asking the third party responsible for the post to remove the statement.

“We can only assume that you have been misinformed and we would appreciate knowing where this information was sourced as we are obviously keen that all comment – in support of or against – potential planning applications is fair and accurate.

“We are disappointed that TreeTop Trek has expressed little concern at the inaccuracies in your statement about our organisation despite our drawing its attention to them. We hope that you take our concerns more seriously as publishing false or inaccurate comment does little to enhance the credibility of what is obviously a well constructed argument on your part.”

The Friends requested that the poster removed the statement they said was inaccurate.

Replying to the Friends on Facebook, Thirlmere Activity Hub said it had not removed the post by Ronnie Bowron. It said: “It dropped from the site when we had to deactivate a function due to constant abuse from one party.” The page owners have now pinned it permanently to the top of the posts.

It added: “Whilst these remarks were not spoken by us directly, they were referring to our own comments in an earlier thread which read as follows: ‘We also chose Thirlmere because Friends of the Lake District suggested it might be suitable’.

“Other than to clarify that we stand by this statement, we have nothing further to comment on this at this stage.”

Friends of the Lake District said they will respond formally to the proposals after an application has been submitted to the Lake District National Park Authority.