Plans for a new 150-space car park in the Lake District are set to be rejected by planners.
The Lake District Park Authority’s Development Control Committee will discuss the application by Lingholm Private Trust for land at Ullock Moss on Wednesday, November 5.
Lingholm Private Trust wants to create a car park, toilet block, bike hire facilities and space to operate a shuttle bus.
Authority officers have recommended the scheme, on Cupboard Field, be refused.
In a 69-page report prepared for committee members, officers said a previous application in 2021 had been refused as it did not demonstrate that it would resolve illegal and dangerous parking in the area and would cause harm the area’s appearance.
It said at that time that it had not been demonstrated that all other options for traffic management had been exhausted.
The highways authority Cumberland Council has raised no objections to the current application, and said all avenues had been pursued. It added that illegal parking still occurred in the valley. However, it clarified that it had never proposed public parking as part of the solution.
This application has attracted a huge amount of interest locally and nationally.
A total of 248 objections have been sent to the authority, including from Friends of the Lake District, the National Trust and the Woodland Trust and 272 letters of support have also been received.
Above Derwent Parish Council, which supported the 2021 application, has also objected to the latest plan for several reasons, including that a new car park would lead to an increase in traffic and there was no demonstrated need for it.
In 2022, double yellow lines were painted in and around Portinscale which were made permanent in 2023, and the parish council said that had improved parking issues in the area.
Parking chaos
Mike Anderton, director of Lingholm Private Trust, said earlier this year that traffic chaos in the area would be helped by the car park.
He said: “The parking issues will not go away and visitors should be able to visit their national park. There is a solution here.
“A team of experts has submitted an application that aligns with planning policy, is evidenced backed and it will resolve the area’s long standing parking problems.
“Now is the time to take action to avoid future traffic chaos, including more buses being cancelled because of poorly parked vehicles.”
Emergency vehicle access
The report to members said the view of Cumberland Council, the highways authority, was that the ongoing parking situation was not considered a road safety risk regarding the risk of collisions caused by the parking itself, but recognised that inconsiderate parking did make passage of emergency service vehicles
difficult if not impossible at times and it could lead to an unacceptable situation when emergency access was required.
However, Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service and the North West Ambulance Service told the national park authority that they did not have specific examples of when they had been blocked on way to an emergency.
The fire service did say that irresponsible parking can impact on how quickly and effectively it can respond to incidents.
The ambulance service said if the road was ever blocked it could still get to an incident by other means or request helicopter support.
The report said: “This could apply wherever inconsiderate parking occurs. Given the nature of the roads in the national park, it is likely that the potential for impeded access will always exist at times.”
Shuttle bus plan
The plans also propose running a shuttle bus service for people parking at the new facility.
The report said: “The 77/77A/77C Honister Rambler bus which serves Keswick, Portinscale, Lorton, Buttermere and Honister stops at the Ullock Moss site and near to Cupboard Field and operates seasonally between March and November.
“Keswick Launch advertises a stop at Nichol End Marine which is a short distance from Ullock Moss. However, the jetty is currently closed and means that the launch currently operates a regular service to Hawse End, south of Derwent Bay and approximately 500m from Cupboard Field and the start of the Catbells walk.
“The authority ran a shuttle bus from Keswick to Catbells daily from July 23 2022 to September 4 2022. This was an hourly service between
10am and 5pm.”The numbers using it were variable, with daily passenger numbers ranging between three and 47 per day, with an average of 14 per day.
“The service did not run after 2022.”
Recommended for refusal
The report added that there were no changes in the proposals from the 2021 application between the harm to the area and the public benefits, which would lead officers to approve the scheme.
It added: “As it appears that there is a conflict between the purposes, as required, I have attached greater weight to the purpose of conserving and enhancing
the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area comprised in the national park in reaching my conclusions.”
The Development Control Committee has been recommended to refuse the plans because it would cause harm to the character and appearance of the area and it had not been demonstrated that they:
- would resolve an unacceptable highway safety issue or hazard
- would not lead to net increases in traffic accessing the location
- would incorporate specific measures to manage traffic to the site through ‘smart’ parking information
