A petition opposing plans to build an £100 million holiday resort with around 450 lodges in the Furness area has been set up.
The extensive facility, which could feature a restaurant, gym, pool and children’s petting farm, would be built on around 550,000 sq metres of land at Roanhead Farm, close to Askam.
Andrew Coutts, chief executive of developer ILM Group, previously said the £100m resort would be a ‘great place’ for people to play sports, have parties and use ‘state-of-the-art leisure facilities’.
But an online petition on change.org is opposing the plan, saying it would have ‘devastating consequences’ for wildlife.
The preamble to the document, which was set up by Kelly Atkinson, stresses the importance of the Roanhead area to the rare Natterjack Toad.
It also says Roanhead is home to ‘many rare plant species’ and that the holiday resort development ‘needs to be prevented’.
Kelly Holland created the petition and said it was a ‘travesty’ that the facility, was being discussed.
She said: “Why can’t we be proud and keep something so precious? Why do we have to try and make everything urbanised?”
Mr Coutts previously said the resort would ‘encourage people to visit Barrow and the wider Furness Peninsula’.
But Mrs Holland, of Barrow, dismissed this, suggesting people would mostly remain on the extensive resort site – which could feature a farm shop, children’s petting farm and gym – and that there was ‘nothing in Barrow for them to come for’.
“It’s not going to be some big ‘save Barrow’ job,” she said. “They are not going to come into Barrow to do some shopping.”
She has set up a Facebook page – ‘Save Roanhead from developers’ – and a petition on change.org to oppose the plan for the holiday resort.
Almost 2,000 people have signed the petition. Mrs Holland also wants people to write to the council expressing their concerns.
“There are bats,” she said. “There are Great Crested Newts. There are lots of different plant species that are endangered. I feel very strongly that we need to protect what we have got.
“If that was a colony of tigers, would you be happy for someone to come and build there? But, because it’s a toad, it’s out of sight, out of mind.”
A scoping report submitted by environmental consultancy firm enzygo says the layout of the scheme would include ‘several’ breeding ponds for Natterjack Toads.
“Certain areas of grassland will be maintained as a low sward, favoured by foraging and commuting Natterjacks,” it says.
“Opportunities to create resting places, hibernacula and sandy burrowing sites beneath certain lodges are also being explored.”
The report says the plan would involve tree, shrub and hedgerow planting. An outline application for the resort is set to be submitted to Barrow Council.
Mrs Holland’s petition can be viewed at tinyurl.com/bdht6f2b
