A planning officer’s recommendation to refuse the proposed Ullock Moss car park has been strongly criticised for disregarding clear, professional evidence of serious highway hazards on the Portinscale to Cat Bells route.
Lingholm Private Trust’s proposal to alleviate traffic congestion around Cat Bells with the creation of a 150-space car park with an amenities building and shuttle-bus service is due to be discussed by the Lake District National Park Authority’s Development Control Committee on 5 November.
The Trust and its agents, Crosby Granger Architects, had been hopeful of resolving the issue after five years of discussion.
They point to an independent road safety assessment carried out earlier this year by Nicholson Sloan Consultancy which identified numerous danger points where pedestrians are routinely forced into live traffic, verges are collapsing into the carriageway, and emergency access is compromised.
The findings warned that the situation presents a continuing and significant risk to public safety – one likely to intensify during future tourist seasons.
Despite this, the officer’s report to the committee dismisses the assessment, claiming there is “insufficient evidence to conclude that an unacceptable highway safety issue or hazard exists”.
Chris Granger, managing director of Crosby Granger Architects, said: “That statement is indefensible. The evidence is there in the record, in photographs, and in the hundreds of enforcement notices issued every year.
“Cumbria Highways cited safety issues as the justification for introducing double yellow lines. They haven’t worked and to suggest the problem has gone away is not professional judgement – it is a dangerous misrepresentation of fact.”
Mr Granger confirmed that if the Committee followed the officer’s advice, a formal appeal would be lodged immediately, adding: “The officer’s report contains assumptions that are demonstrably incorrect and conclusions that cannot withstand scrutiny. Those errors will now be used as the basis of an appeal which will test, line by line, the accuracy and veracity of the officer’s claims.”
The proposed Ullock Moss car park — a managed facility with toilets, landscape screening and a seasonal shuttle link to Cat Bells — has been developed specifically to remove illegal verge parking, improve pedestrian safety, and maintain access for emergency vehicles.
“This is not about convenience,” Mr Granger continued. “It is about public safety, responsibility and accountability. To ignore clear professional evidence of risk is an abdication of duty. If this recommendation is endorsed, it will be appealed — and overturned.”
