Eden District Council says it has withdrawn plans to develop woodland near the Penrith Beacon.
A Spokesman for Eden District Council said: “Eden District Council has been advised that Lowther and Lonsdale Estates wish to withdraw the woodland at Penrith Beacon from consideration as part of proposals included in the Penrith Strategic Masterplan – A Vision to 2050 document which is currently part of a public engagement process.
“Clearly any proposals relating to the Beacon land cannot proceed without the consent of the landowner.
“Consequently the proposals for low density development at this location can be deemed to be withdrawn and no longer the subject of the draft Masterplan. Subject to this, the engagement process continues until 2 November 2018.
“In terms of the latest round of the Garden Village scheme the Council can confirm that no bid will be made.
“Analysis of the engagement responses will focus on the material that relates to other aspects of the Masterplan.
“The feedback from the engagement exercise will be analysed and the Council will ask an external organisation to undertake an independent review of the findings. An interim report will be taken to Executive in December reporting on the engagement, including an overview of the process used and how many people were engaged.
“The Scrutiny Co-ordinating Board will be asked to comment on the outcomes of the engagement.
“The Council remains 100% committed to improving the social economic environmental wellbeing of Eden residents. A further announcement on the next steps will be made after the December meeting of Eden’s Executive. Any proposals will take account of the socio economic and demographic factors that are outlined in the introduction to the Masterplan.”
A spokesman for the campaign group Keep Penrith Special (KPS) said: “It must be made absolutely clear the Masterplan is still happening, the consultation is still taking place, and people only have until Friday 2nd November to voice and action their concerns by signing the KPS campaign petition and returning the pre-paid postcard that every household in the CA10 & CA11 postcodes will receive from Monday 22nd October onwards.
“It seems the people of Eden may have won. But we at KPS don’t think the campaign is won. We have read the small print.
“EDC have announced they won’t put in the planned application for Garden Village money in the round closing on 9th November. They have also announced two other things; that the Council will get an external organisation to review the findings of their woeful and unlawful consultation and that the Scrutiny Board of the Council will look at the outcomes of the Consultation.
“The people of the District will think EDC have listened and think that the people have won the concessions everyone wanted and then go back to sleep. Then EDC will proceed to get through the back door what they couldn’t get through the front whilst everyone is asleep.
“They will say we consulted you and listened. When everyone wakes up it will be ‘New Squares Mark2 on speed’. They are still having meetings planned for next week about stuffing the Masterplan into the Local Plan. Now what does that tell you? That’s why we will take every action we need to take to preserve our rights.”
Keep Penrith Special launched an online petition on 10th September against EDC’s Penrith Masterplan. Links to the petition and video can be found at www.keeppenrithspecial.org.
