Plan for a new ‘leisure retreat’ on the Furness peninsula – next to land earmarked for a controversial resort – have been revealed.
Queensland Country Park Ltd has submitted a planning application to build a sustainable leisure retreat on land off Hawthwaite Lane on Roanhead – with the potential to attract between 6,000 and 9,000 visitors a year.
The development would consist of 23 holiday lodges, 10 glamping pods, 24 caravan/motorhome pitches, a facilities building, an amenity block and a booking office. It would have a maximum of 208 bed spaces.
The firm said: “The application seeks to provide a low-impact, sustainable, leisure retreat for visitors to Roanhead, and for local residents.”
It said one of the aims of the proposed development was to provide ecologically friendly leisure accommodation that would promote the physical and mental health of its visitors.
Another aim set out in planning documents was: “To restrict development, as far as possible, to those parts of the application site which have low habitat value and recognise the need for sensitive landscaping and management of the site, whilst utilising the applicant’s wider land ownership to add to the biodiversity and nature conservation value of the local area, without causing harm to the nearby sensitive coastline habitats.”
The application distances itself from plans for the Roanhead Lodge Resort and said it did not include any on site bar, restaurant, café, indoor sports facilities or any indoor events/meeting areas.
It added: “In short, the applicant merely wishes to provide eco-friendly lodge accommodation and touring caravan facilities, of appropriate scale, for visitors and local people wishing to enjoy the unique experience and tranquillity associated with Roanhead and this part of the Cumbrian coastline.”
According to the proposals there will be direct employment benefits and further indirect employment benefits for the local economy from visitors wishing to visit Barrow and Dalton Town Centres as well as Askam village.
Plans add: “Although the applicant is not claiming a substantial quantum of job creation benefits, the positive socio-economic impacts, together with the substantial biodiversity net gain generated by improvements to the applicant’s wider land ownership, will more than offset the limited on-site ecological impacts, and the wider landscape and visual impacts that have been identified.
Developers ILM group have lodged plans on a neighbouring site for the installation of 233 lodges, nearly half the previously proposed 450 lodges for the site.
They claim this would significantly reduce the number of visitors to the site and potential associated impacts on the natural environment.
ILM Group add independent economic consultants Hatch project the Roanhead Lodge Resort would also provide an estimated £10.8m annually in visitor spending for Cumbria.
However, the proposals have faced opposition with Barrow Town Council labelling the type of development totally unsuitable for the area and state it would have an‘overbearing impact on the countryside.
Friends of the Lake District, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the National Trust, among other organisations, have objected to the proposals. A petition created by the Save Roanhead group has almost 8,500 names.
