Lake District landowners have been ordered to remove buildings and to stop using lakeshore land for parking.
The Planning Inspectorate has dismissed appeals from Mr J Batty, Mr K Batty and the Rawdon-Smith Trust regarding the use of land around a boathouse at Bank Ground Farm on the shoreline of Coniston Water, and upheld an enforcement notice served by the Lake District National Park Authority.
The breach of planning control on land north of the boathouse includes two stone walls, the backfilling of land to create a raised platform and the building of four facility buildings.
On land south of the boathouse, the enforcement notice relates to the use of lakeshore land for parking and/or storage, a stone wall and the backfilling of land to create a raised platform.
In appeal documents, Mr J and K Batty argued that the land had been used for agriculture and leisure uses for decades, including storage of boats, watercraft and parking of associated vehicles.
However, a planning inspector said: “On the limited evidence that is before me, I conclude that the creation of the raised platforms has resulted in uses that may previously have been taking place on an occasional and informal basis now taking place more frequently and taking on a formal character.”
The enforcement notices require them stop using the land for parking and storage within a month.
In an appeal, the Rawdon-Smith Trust said it would be unreasonable for it to be subject to the enforcement notice as it had no part in carrying out the work and only partly owned some land in the enforcement notice area.
The planning inspector added that only a thin sliver of land owned by the trust falls into the boundary of the land to which the notice relates.
However, their report added: “Nevertheless, the authority was perfectly entitled to serve a copy of the notice on the trust as an owner of the land, even if it that ownership represents only a very small percentage of the total land area to which the notices relate.
“Indeed, not to have done so would have deprived the trust of any opportunity to appeal against the notice and access to the courts should that be necessary.”
In 12 months, the enforcement notice requires the removal of the timber buildings and the land reinstated to its former level and condition before the work to create the retaining wall and raised platforms took place.
The planning inspector said: “The raised platforms are incongruous in this otherwise largely natural environment and are visually jarring against the generally natural character of the eastern lakeshore.
“Consequently, the raised platforms are not sympathetic to the character and appearance of the area. I accept entirely that the raised platforms are not easily visible from public vantage points including, due to the distance involved, from the busy tourist facilities on the western lakeshore.
“However, they are clearly visible from Coniston Water itself, including to those taking part in boating activities of all descriptions (such as boats providing cruises on the lake for tourists), and in that context detract from the character and appearance of the area.”
