Plans for a 450-lodge Furness holiday resort have been revealed.
The site at Roanhead Farm, near Askam, would potentially feature an indoor pool, a restaurant, a children’s petting farm, and a gym and spa.
A scoping report says the resort would be operated by Landal GreenParks and be built on around 550,000 sq metres of land. An outline planning application for the development, which would accommodate up to 1,200 guests, is set to be submitted.
Three public exhibitions – at Barrow, Dalton and Askam – about the planned scheme are to take place this month.
Andrew Coutts, managing director at developer ILM Group, said: “We are keen to hear the views of people living in the area.
“We have been engaged since the summer of 2021 with local parish, town and county councils, Natural England, the National Trust and Highways England.”
An invitation to the exhibitions says the events will cover a variety of subjects, such as highways, ecology and visual impact.
The invitation acknowledges there will be ‘challenging areas’ as part of the plan, referring to the impact of resort guests on the environment and an increase in traffic.
But it says the exhibitions and the resort website – roanhead.com, due to go live on February 14 – will discuss the ‘mitigating measures’ being proposed and ‘the responsibility assumed by developers’.
“There are clear benefits which would arise from the development of the resort, including the envisaged diversification of the economy, the positive contribution to the tourism profile of the Furness Peninsula, a tourism multiplier effect and the innovative sports, leisure, spa, outdoor facilities and restaurant/bars offering conceived for both the resort and the local community,” it says.
One exhibition is taking place at Barrow’s Forum theatre, situated in Duke Street, between midday and 3pm on Wednesday, February 15.
Another will be between 5pm and 8pm in the council chamber at the town hall in Station Road, Dalton. A third will be between 5pm and 8pm on February 16 at Rankin Hall, Duke Street, Askam.
