Opposition to controversial Ullswater planning application

Conservation charity Friends of the Lake District has joined with concerned local residents to oppose a controversial planning application for a holiday unit on the shore of Ullswater.

The application is for the construction of a contemporary single story building, north of Scalehow wood, near Howtown, on the southern lakeshore.

Richard Pearse, Friends of the Lake District's planning policy officer said: 'This is a very sensitive landscape setting. The southern lakeshore is particularly tranquil. There are very few buildings on this lakeshore, and none between Sandwick and Patterdale. The proposed building, would be clearly visible from the lake, and represent a significant intrusion into the landscape.'

The Lake District National Park Authority's planning policy would normally not permit the development of such a building in this location. In this case though, justification for the development is being sought on the grounds of the existence of two wooden huts, which have been in situ since the 1930s. The proposed building would replace these huts.

The application is particularly controversial, since the huts were until recently under the control of the Lake District National Park Authority. The huts are on land at Beckside Farm, Sandwick, which was owned by the National Park Authority between 1981 and 2007. The Authority had the option of removing the huts at the time they sold the farm, but opted to retain them. The Park Authority also included clauses in the sale agreement which would entitle it to a percentage of the increase in value from any later planning permission granted in relation to the huts.

Local resident William Lockett, whose grandfather sold Beckside Farm to the National Park Authority in 1981, said: 'This would seem to be a case of a conflict of interests on the part of the National Park Authority. The wooden huts have only ever been used very occasionally in the warmer months to provide very basic accommodation, usually only offering shelter in conjunction with camping. They have never had any utility services, as you would expect in what essentially is a field almost a kilometre from the nearest houses. There was always the danger though, that a recognised use in planning terms could be established, through their having been in existence for so long. This unfortunately proved to be the case last year, when the new owner applied for a Certificate of Lawful Use in regard to the huts, which the National Park Authority subsequently granted. Now the land use is established, the door has been opened to pressure for further development. This seems a terrible shame.'

Mr Lockett continued: 'My grandfather sold Beckside Farm to the National Park Authority in 1981 with the intention that it would be conserved as a traditional farm without the pressure for recreational development, in the firm belief that the LDNPA were the safest guardians of the traditional landscape of the Ullswater. The Authority had the option to remove the huts at the time of sale, and therefore safeguard the area from development pressure. In seeking to maximise their income from the sale, it seems that they have compromised that objective.'

Richard Pearse said: 'We recognise the need for the Authority to generate income where they can, during a time when funding for public bodies is being significantly reduced. We also have no doubt that the Authority's planning officers will deal with the application in an appropriate way. The fact remains though that the Authority's main priority should be the conservation of the landscape - and they have placed themselves in a very difficult position in this respect.'