Local Plan Review Article - Conserving Lakeland Edition 80

Conserving Lakeland The magazine of Friends of the Lake District | Free to members

Celebrating 85 years N U M B E R 8 0 - S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 019

Conserving Lakeland

06

Lake District Local Plan Update Last summer we took part in a consultation on the first draft of a new Local Plan for the Lake District National Park (LDNP). 2,700 people responded to the consultation - thank you if you were one of them.

In our response we raised several concerns about the plan, including its focus on economic development rather than landscape conservation, some of the proposed sites for development and the inclusion of proposal for a gondola cable car at Whinlatter.

Our full response is available here: www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/ local-plan-consultation-1-response A revised draft of the Plan has now been published and a public consultation on the revised draft is now in progress, running until 8th June 2019. You can view it here: www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/ pre-submission-local-plan There have been some welcome changes, many of which are thanks to residents and those who value the LDNP making their voices heard during the first consultation. However, despite some improvements, our concerns still remain.

We are pleased that 15 proposed sites for development have been removed from the Plan, including some removed as a result of concerns raised by the public and additional landscape evidence. Some further sites have been reduced in size.

We also support in principle the proposed introduction of mechanisms to fund infrastructure to relieve pressure on ‘honeypot’ areas, but we would want to ensure that any such measures are sensitively located, of appropriate scale and nature and designed to contribute to the conservation and enhancement of the national park.

Whilst specific references to the cable car project have been removed, the

Duddon Valley, July - Peter Swan national park authority has made it clear that the idea has not been ruled out. A gondola could still be considered as an option to secure a reduction in traffic at Braithwaite and parking at Whinlatter; this in tandem with a proposal for a new Mountain Centre/ Whinlatter Masterplan with increased leisure and recreation facilities.

This outcome is very encouraging on many counts. A meeting of the World Heritage Committee will be held in the summer to decide a course of action in response to concerns raised.

We were pleased to learn that at a meeting of World Heritage Watch in Paris in February, a recommendation was made to the World Heritage Committee challenging the proposal for a gondola cable car at Whinlatter along with other issues of concern including the approved zip wire at Honister and the use of 4x4s on green lanes. See: www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/ world-heritage-watch-2019

We of course strongly support sustainable transport measures and reducing the need for cars but these need to be carefully thought through to ensure that they uphold the outstanding universal values for which the Lake District is designated a World Heritage Site.

Any proposals must comply with policies that protect the landscape and other aspects of the environment as well as policies restricting major development in national parks.

We don’t think that proposals for a gondola would comply with these policies.

The meeting was attended by campaign groups NoGoGondola, ZipOff and Save Our Lake District.

A policy identifying ‘Showcase Areas’ around Windermere, Derwentwater and Ullswater has also been taken

07

Spring / Summer 2019

Rosthwaite, October - Peter Swan out of the Plan following concerns that it would intensify tourism development and relax planning controls. Despite this, references to ‘Showcase Areas’ still remain in the text with some policies still indicating exceptions to crucial controls on development, such as allowing new camp sites near Hawkshead, contrary to the policy on tourism and holiday accommodation. As ‘Showcase Areas’ are still referenced, it is important that the Plan makes clear exactly what these are, what the LDNPA seeks to achieve in them, why and how they are to be different from other areas of the park and how they relate to the remaining Distinctive Areas policies.

We are yet to interrogate the revised Plan fully and will be examining it in more detail during the current consultation period, as well as meeting again with the LDNPA’s Local Plans Team to discuss our outstanding

concerns. We will make our response available on our website when it is submitted and keep you up-to-date with our thoughts on the Plan.

The current consultation is a formal, statutory stage in Local Plan preparation. It is focused on whether the Plan is legally compliant and ‘sound’ - that is whether it is ‘positively prepared’, justified, effective and consistent with national policy.

Comments at this stage must make clear how they relate to these aspects.

Following the consultation, the Plan and comments received will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. This is expected to take place in July or August 2019. A Government-appointed Inspector will then carry out a Public Examination into the legal compliance and soundness of the Plan. This is expected to take place in autumn and will include public hearing sessions.

Anyone who objects to the Plan on the grounds that it is ‘unsound’ or not legally compliant will have the right to request to speak at these hearings.

Following the Examination, the inspector will produce a report and if the Plan is found to be ‘sound’ and legally compliant, the document is likely to be adopted by the LDNPA and come into force in or around May 2020. Therefore, the current consultation is your last real chance to get involved and influence the Plan’s content. Although we will strive to keep you up-to-date, keep an eye on the LDNPA’s local plan review page: www.lakedistrict.gov. uk/planning/local-plan-review It has details on how to take part in the consultation and examination hearings, as well as updates on the timetable for the next steps of the process, which may yet change.