Roanhead… Saved!

Friends of the Lake District have joined a coalition of other nature and landscape charities, and the community group Save Roanhead, in welcoming the news that the application for 230 lodges and associated development at Roanhead on the Furness peninsula has been refused.

The proposed development was a serious threat to the internationally significant Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary designated sites and the National Nature Reserve at Sandscale Haws. Westmorland & Furness Council’s Strategic Planning Committee agreed with their planning officer’s recommendations and rejected the application when it met on Monday 24 November at Kendal Town Hall.

Friends of the Lake District, National Trust, Woodland Trust, RSPB, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, and Cumbria GeoConservation previously issued a joint statement in relation to the proposed development outlining their objections. This can be found at www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/roanheadstatement 

Lorayne Wall, Head of Planning and Policy at Friends of the Lake District said: “We welcome the news that these proposals have been refused. Friends of the Lake District stood firm alongside the many local residents and environmental organisations that objected to plans for this resort. We shared their deep concerns about the many impacts this proposal would have had. As well as causing harm to internationally important sites of biodiversity, a development of the type and scale proposed would have significantly compromised the local landscape and people’s enjoyment of it.”

In response to the news, Michelle Scrogham MP said: “I can’t tell you how pleased I am by this decision. It is an issue I have been campaigning on since way before I was elected, and have continued to oppose the development as the local MP. I’m so relieved.

“It was always clear that the proposed development at Roanhead would have been disastrous, causing irreversible damage to this special place.  The economic case was also very weak, all the evidence shows that local communities get very little benefit from this type of development.

“Roanhead is a place of international ecological importance and at the same time hugely valued by local people who have enjoyed and looked after this land for generations. The decision today means that it will be protected to be enjoyed by future generations for many years to come.”

Photo: Campaigners celebrate victory for Roanhead

Want to help us fight to secure more victories for the landscape? Why not join Friends of the Lake District today or donate to our Landscape Protection appeal here.