Controversial plans for a storage compound capable of housing hundreds of cars in the Lake District have been refused – in the hope the applicant comes back with a new scheme with different lighting proposals.
Members of the development control committee for the Lake District National Park Authority turned down plans from Lloyd Motor Group to provide 254 car storage spaces for use by local dealerships next to the existing South Lakes BMW dealership near Lindale.
Committee members expressed concern over lighting at the site, with Peter Walter saying he appreciated the need to support an existing business but adding the proposed lighting was a problem.
National park member Vicky Hughes proposed deferring the application and said: “We’re stuck here in a place where we want to encourage business and infrastructure because we want to grow our economy, we also want to encourage people to stay, live and work within our area.
“I know it’s a sensitive area and we’ve also got to maintain our landscape, but I don’t want to refuse it, I want to be able to approve but I’m not satisfied with the lighting.”
The applicant’s agent told the committee the business would be open on weekdays between 8am and 6pm with lighting operating on motion sensors outside of opening hours.
He said: “The lighting is purely for a health and safety perspective. If we’ve got members of staff moving into the area to take cars away, especially in the winter, we’ll need that area lit.
“Obviously we have looked at the lighting, it is an area we are very focused on making sure it’s right for the Lake District National Park.
“We’re intending on putting it on sensors, so its only motion detected after the business closes. It should prevent any light emitting from the site outside of business hours.
“It’s purely in winter where you would see an impact with the lighting, but the lighting has been revised to make sure it’s encased in the area and it’s not going to expose other parts of the national park.”
Committee member Richard Outhwaite said the advantage of a refusal is it gave the applicant the opportunity to come back.
Mr Outhwaite added: “It’s a fresh application; it’s a different application. It doesn’t get muddied with the current application and all the consultees know it’s a fresh start.
“In that respect a refusal is probably better because everyone can start with the new proposal.”
The proposed 2.38-hectare site is currently undeveloped land and is bounded by the A590 to the north and undeveloped land to the south.
According to the applicant, the proposals would address the insufficient vehicle compound space to serve the nearby workshop and showroom facilities.
Planning officers recommended approving the application and said: “The proposal is adjacent to and related to an existing business use in the countryside of the Lake District National Park. The development would help to sustain the existing business.
“The proposals involve the development of currently undeveloped land, but is accompanied by appropriate mitigation measures in the form of landscaping and management.”
Lindale and Newton Parish Council voted not to support to the new plans due to the loss of open countryside and agricultural land.
The parish council also raised concerns the proposals would create a precedent for further development on the approach to the village.
Plans for a 2.13-hectare site were previously turned down by the authority in August due to concerns the proposal would have adverse visual and landscape effects.
The new plans said a five-metre-wide landscaping strip to the north west site boundary and an eight-metre-wide strip to the south east site boundary provided screening and would create a wildlife zone.
Vehicles would be delivered to the site using car transporters to the existing access which serves the BMW dealership. It was proposed a spur road would link the storage facility with the dealership.
