Editing Cheddar Gorge (section)

== Ownership ==
The south side of the gorge is owned and administered by the [[Marquess of Bath]]'s [[Longleat]] Estate. The cliffs on the north side of the gorge are owned by [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|The National Trust]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1843|title=Access Q&A|publisher=British Mountaineering Council|access-date=10 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002115151/http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1843|archive-date=2 October 2008}}</ref> Every year, both of the gorge's owners contribute funds towards the clearance of scrub, bush and trees from the area.

Most of the commercial visitor activity in the gorge is on the Longleat-owned south side, including access to the two main commercial show caves and the visitor centre, which is operated by Longleat-owned company Cheddar Gorge and Caves Ltd.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}. Because visitors to the show caves have decreased from 400,000 a year in the 1980s to 150,000 in 2013, [[Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth]], who runs the Longleat estate on behalf of the family trust, proposed the installation of a {{convert|600|m|adj=on}} 18-gondola [[Aerial lift|cable car]] at an estimated cost of £10m, which would take visitors from the entrance area to the caves directly to the top of the southside cliffs. The National Trust opposed the proposed development, stating that it would spoil the view and cheapen the experience, creating a "fairground ride" that would make the area feel more like an amusement park. [[Planning permission]] was planned in Spring 2014, which would have meant that operations would start in Spring 2016.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/10410815/Marquess-of-Bath-clashes-with-locals-over-plans-for-cable-car-through-Cheddar-Gorge.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Theo | last=Merz | title=Marquess of Bath clashes with locals over plans for cable car through Cheddar Gorge | date=29 October 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102011815/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/10410815/Marquess-of-Bath-clashes-with-locals-over-plans-for-cable-car-through-Cheddar-Gorge.html | archive-date=2 November 2013}}</ref> In 2015 the financial feasibility was still being investigated.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Robinson|first1=Sarah|title=Bosses still exploring cable car viability|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/bosses-still-exploring-cable-car-viability-1-3926347|access-date=28 December 2017|work=Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury|date=23 January 2015|archive-date=3 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803135518/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/bosses-still-exploring-cable-car-viability-1-3926347|url-status=dead}}</ref>