Commercial camping development on national park common is rejected

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The Planning Inspectorate has rejected an application from Woodland Property Services to erect 10 camping pods (wooden cabins on post-mounted bases) on Blawith Common in the Lake District National Park.

The society, with the Friends of the Lake District, the Lake District National Park Authority, Blawith and Subberthwaite Parish Council, Blawith and Subberthwaite Commoners’ Association and Natural England, opposed the application for works on common land, which is near Ulverston in Cumbria.

The inspector, Mr Richard Holland, ruled that the development would ‘unacceptably harm the interests of the graziers and the natural beauty of the national park, and hinder the public’s access over, and its enjoyment of, the common’. He therefore rejected the application.

It was clear that the application was of purely private, commercial benefit and conflicted with the interests of the neighbourhood and the public, which are important considerations when determining such cases. The pods would have been an intrusion in the landscape and prevented the public from walking here.

This was an unsuitable use for common land, which should be available for everyone to enjoy and for the exercise of common rights of grazing. This is a splendid outcome.

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