A major landscape charity has lodged its official objection to plans for an £100 million holiday resort in South Cumbria.
The proposal for the 450-lodge development at Roanhead, near Askam, has been controversial.
Campaigners against the plans say they threaten a much-valued stretch of coastline which has multiple protected sites for nature as well as expansive views to the Lake District fells.
But the developers say the resort will bring a boost to the area.
Brothers Terry and Jimmy Curtis have farmed the land at Roanhead, near Askam, for much of their lives and are behind the plans for the redevelopment.
The developers say 265 full time equivalent jobs would be available – with 199 of these workers expected to be from Cumbria and 132 from the Barrow area.
As well as protests from local people, charities including Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the National Trust, the RSPB, the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust and Cumbria GeoConservation have also objected.
A protest group, Save Roanhead, has been set up to oppose the plans.
Now Friends of the Lake District has sent its official objection to the planning authority, Westmorland and Furness Council.
A spokesman said: “It has cited multiple concerns about the acceptability of this type and scale of development at this location with particular reference to its impact on local landscape character and visual amenity, strongly criticising the quality of the landscape and visual impact assessment submitted with the planning application.”
The charity said it commissioned a review of the assessment by Douglas Harman Landscape Planning.
Lorayne Wall, planning officer at Friends of the Lake District, said: “It clearly concludes that the assessment does not accurately consider and describe the proposed development in sufficient detail and its findings are majorly flawed.
“The approach used does not conform to relevant guidance, and with many significant errors, the LVIA cannot be relied upon to provide a robust understanding of likely effects. Therefore, it is not fit for purpose.”
The PR firm working with the developer ILM group said: “The Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment for the proposed Roanhead development was completed by Enzyzo, a leading UK environmental consultancy which has successfully produced more than 40 LVIAs for holiday parks in the UK.
“The work was commissioned by Andrew Coutts, managing director of ILM Group, the company that hopes to develop the resort.”
He said: ”The methodology used in producing the LVIA – along with every other aspect of our planning submission – has been robust and in consultation with some of the industry’s leading experts.
“The study area of 7.5km was developed in consultation with the local planning authority and was discussed with them at the pre-application, screening and scoping stages.
“The methodology for this LVIA is tried and tested, having been successfully used by Enzygo for a significant number of applications, including holiday parks in coastal locations.
“In terms of comments relating to the severity of landscape and visual impacts, inevitably, the subjectivity of the assessment means that there will be differences of opinion between practitioners.
“From our perspective, we stand by every element of our assessment and methodology and are committed to investing in a development that will create hundreds of jobs and millions of pounds for the local economy.”
Friends of the Lake District also claims there are multiple conflicts between the proposals and the statutory planning policies set out in the local plan for the area, as well as conflicts with national planning policies.
