Revised plans for a £2.64 million nature hub in South Cumbria have been revealed.
The proposal for Earnse Bay in Walney is funded by the Brilliant Barrow Town Deal and aimed at connecting local communities to open spaces, nature and education.
The Earnse Bay Outdoor Centre will be built on land owned by Westmorland and Furness Council.
After a period of review and further input from the local community, the authority said the latest designs for the 3.37-hectare site place a greater focus upon the landscaping and visitor experience, and will see the creation of a space focused on outdoor activities, free to access trails and an opportunity to camp overnight in a purpose built and sensitively-sited area.
Planning permission for the original scheme, which included an Environmental Education Centre delivered by Natural England, was granted early last year.
The project has now been revisited and refreshed the scheme to better reflect feedback received from the community, the council said.
Local residents and school children were previously involved in helping to shape the vision for the site, with extra drop-in sessions held over the summer at North Scale Community Centre and The Forum.
The site, which currently consists of grassland and scrub, with a redundant changing room building and some hardstanding, will be transformed to host a community café building with supporting functions such as a shop, flexible spaces and toilet facilities for the park, and a camping support building serving the family and group camping area, which will be delivered by Westmorland and Furness Council.
The open space will be wilder, with the central meadow retained for unplanned activities. Grasses, herbs and mowing tolerant wildflowers will be introduced, while mown grass paths will crisscross the meadow to connect routes around the site, in and out of wildflower meadows, through willow arches, and scrub and trees. The main paths will be fully accessible.
The Environmental Education Centre is being delivered by Natural England as previously proposed, funded via Defra capital funding.
The centre will provide workshops, classrooms, and meeting rooms while serving as a volunteer and operational hub for the Natural England team based at North Walney National Nature Reserve.
Natural England is working with the council, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Art Gene as part of a one-year development scheme, The Earnse Project, supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund.
That project is currently working to curate activities with communities to ignite their passion and enable more people to connect with the natural world, including exploring the development of an education programme delivered from the beach school, a wide range of volunteering opportunities, engagement with the arts, wellbeing programme and the creation of more biodiverse green spaces with communities across Barrow.
Jonathan Brook, the leader of Westmorland and Furness Council and deputy chair of the Brilliant Barrow Town Deal Board, said: “This is a tremendously exciting project. I am delighted to see the revised proposals reflecting the views and feedback of the community.
“This will be a special place for people to experience and enjoy Earnse Bay. It will also create a hub and base for exploration of the wider Walney area and its unique natural environment.
“Developing this outdoor and skills facility, will not only help families to access learning, with beach schools and physical activity on the coastline, but will also provide great new opportunities for the whole of Barrow.
“None of this would be possible without partners Natural England, Art Gene and Cumbria Wildlife Trust and I’m really looking forward to seeing the end result, which will be a valuable asset for Walney, Barrow and Westmorland and Furness as a whole.”
The community camp site will be separated from the park and supported from a camping barn, which provides WC and shower facilities, and kitchen facilities. Simple camping pods and family tents will be available to rent, and some areas for parking small camper vans.
There will also be a community garden, surrounded by hedges, for vegetable growing and orchard activities, with scope for further community-led development. Quiet, wilder spaces have been introduced in the north eastern part of the site, close to the residential properties of West Shore Park. The margins between West Shore Park residential properties and the park areas have been set aside as wildflower meadows or scrub planting on landscaped mounds, in order to act as a buffer between park activities and quiet residential areas.
Overall planting has been chosen to enhance biodiversity on the site, by providing new hedgerow habitats, and more mixed scrub and grasslands well suited to attract and support house sparrow, common lizard and other species.
