A bid to create six holiday cabins in the Lake District for disadvantaged children has been refused.
The six holiday pods had been proposed for a field called Alma’s Meadow on Smithy Lane, near Bowness-on-Windermere.
The application, submitted to the Lake District National Park Authority, said the development would address a lack of holiday accommodation catering for special needs and disadvantaged children in the Lake District that connected them with nature.
But at the authority’s development control committee on April 1, members said that, while the proposals pulled at the heartstrings, they were in breach of planning guidance, including how the pods would affect views of the landscape and an upcoming nearby conservation area.
A planning officer said that it did not suit the built environment of Bowness and the surrounding countryside, adding that a caravan-style camping development such as this would not be supported by the local plan.
He also raised issues with harm to the character and visual amenity of the location, including cultural heritage, such as the setting of nearby Grade II-listed villa, Old Belfield, and the wider Windermere Villas Conservation Area which is set to be put in place.
The officer added: “We have taken into account the description from the developer in the supporting information, describing it to be intended for disadvantaged children.
“However, we do have concerns that there is nothing in the application, beyond the intention of the application, which actually restricts the use of the site to those groups, and without such a secure arrangement, we are essentially just looking at a development of holiday pods in the countryside.”
He said that even if there were secure arrangements in relation to that point, the authority considered the harm to the landscape and cultural heritage would outweigh it. He recommended refusal.
The commitee voted unanimously to refuse the proposals.
