Writing to the Lake District National Park Authority

Please do make use of this content and guidance to help you compose and submit your own letter of objection to this proposal.


  • Please attach a letter to an email addressed to the Planning Officer Kevin Richards at: [email protected]
  • Email Title: OBJECTION TO PROPOSAL REF: 7/2020/2291 The construction of a new car park, with amenities building at Ullock Moss
  • Please send your objection by 5th March if at all possible. Although responses submitted shortly after that will still be accepted
  • Ensure you state that your comments relate to application reference number 7/2020/2291

We suggest the following heading and introduction to your letter:


HEADER AND INTRODUCTION

Dear Mr Richards,

7/2020/2291 The construction of a new car park, with amenities building at Ullock Moss, a new shuttle bus turning facility at Cupboard Field and a series of measures to the adjacent highway and footpath infrastructure, Ullock Moss, Cupboard Field and land between, West of Derwentwater

I wish to OBJECT to the above proposal for the following reasons:

**********

INSERT ALL OF YOUR REASONS FOR OBJECTING 

  • Feel free to elaborate and add your own additional points and concerns or to select those points listed below that you feel most strongly about
  • You may wish to state whether your relationship to the area (resident, visitor, lover of the Lakes etc)
  • Your response needs to be in your own words to be effective and to make sure it is not considered to be a duplicate response, so please use your own words when citing your reasons for objection but do use our points below to guide you as well as looking at Friends of the Lake District’s own written response to help you with what points you may like to include.
  1. The Lake District National Park Authority’s (LDNPA) own clearly stated vision for sustainable transport in the national park hinges on reducing car-based visits and use of more sustainable modes of travel to, from and around the national park. A new car park in open countryside will undermine this plan.
  2. The LDNPA’s own planning policies (current and proposed) require that new car parks are only permitted when they are a proven and integral part of a strategic plan for sustainable travel and even then, only where they meet certain other criteria. This proposal is not part of a strategic plan and does not meet those criteria.
  3. We urge the Lake District National Park Authority to stand by their local planning policies and clearly-stated vision for sustainable travel in, to and from the National Park and to take urgent steps to implement these as other National Parks, such as Snowdonia, are doing.
  4. The proposal will perpetuate car use and will not help modal shift to other forms of transport
  5. The proposal will necessitate and encourage cars to travel through Portinscale village, exacerbating rather than helping to resolve traffic and parking issues there.
  6. The proposal will have biodiversity impacts that have not been properly assessed, for example, the Habitats Regulations Assessment sought by Natural England in their pre-application consultation response has not been produced.
  7. A new car park and shuttle bus terminus would not conserve and enhance the character and special qualities and attributes of the National Park and World Heritage Site, including tranquillity, as is required by planning policy and legislation. It would also conflict with the Sandford Principle, set out in the Environment Act, which requires conservation to be given greater weight when there is a conflict between conservation and economic factors.
  8. A firm position should be taken by the LDNPA that proposals to make permanent any temporary car parks allowed under the currently relaxed permitted development rules will not automatically be looked upon favourably and will require the same scrutiny as any other new proposal under the strict criteria set out in the Local Plan. Plan includes areas of roadside parking and so will not address issues resulting from that
  9. People will still park on the roadside because they don’t want to pay and/or wish to be closer to the footpath start
  10. Measures put forward as part of the plan and necessary for it to be effective, such as double yellow lines, are reliant on other parties and cannot be guaranteed.
  11. The shuttle bus is proposed to be only seasonal
  12. Mass drop-offs of people at one specific point will impact on footpaths and people’s experience of the area, and can create a ‘theme-park’ feel
  13. These specific alternative solutions for this area are already set out by the LDNPA as part of the wider Smarter Travel plan for the whole of the National Park. This is the plan that should be implemented rather than developing new car parks:
    • Coordinated efforts between the LDNPA, their partners and relevant agencies to push forward the delivery of the existing vision for a more strategic and sustainable approach to visitor and traffic management in the LDNP, including increasing the role of Keswick as a transport interchange hub;
    • Use of double yellow lines/clearways with appropriate controlled gaps/exceptions for exclusive use of users of locals, businesses and community facilities;
    • Closure of the roads in the area around Catbells, in accordance with its designation as a ‘Traffic Managed Area’ in the Management Plan, Smarter Travel Plan and forthcoming Local Plan, including limiting exceptions for cars to those with mobility issues, residents, deliveries (including tradespeople with jobs in the area)
    • Enhancing the service and incentivising use of the existing 77 bus; the boat services from Keswick; the Cumbria Way and other footpaths; and cycling as modes of travel between Keswick and the Catbells area
    •  

*******

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME