Tensions about new housing in the Lake District have bubbled over with a five-homes plan for Threlkeld which came to a head.
Opinion had been polarised about the revised scheme planned for a field overlooking the junction with Station Road and with Blencathra as a back drop.
The application to the national park authority drew 10 letters of objection but 10 in support, said park planners.
Objectors complained about aspects of the scheme and the over development of Threlkeld in recent years, while others decried any further “architectural vandalism” to the village.
Resident Steven Oldfield told the authority he had never previously opposed plans for new housing in Threlkeld.
But he said: “I came here with my wife because it was a nice rural village, now it seems that someone or other has plans to develop on every field.”
But equally, others passionately backed the project because it involves three houses ring-fenced for “local needs only” and two to be sold as “affordable,” although objectors expressed doubts.
Supporters warned that soaring house prices had not been matched by wage rises making it increasingly “impossible” for local working people to afford a house on the open market.
Sheila Sunderland told the national park authority about the volume of second homes and holiday lets. “Walking round Threlkeld at night during lockdown brought home to me just how many properties large and small were in total darkness and have been removed from the local housing stock,” she said.
Supporter Barbara Wilson said recent new housing “enhanced” the village with John Wignall adding that it was essential if Threlkeld was to flourish.
The fresh plans for the site — called Greta Cottage Paddock — were lodged in March and decided this week.
Last Wednesday, the outline plans went before the national park authority’s development control committee which unanimously gave the initial go-ahead.
Area planner Ben Long said Threlkeld had seen seven affordable homes in the last year from a total of nine, and 17 local needs houses of which nine have been delivered with five under construction.
The development would cause “slight harm” on the landscape and residential amenity, he said, but was outweighed by the benefits.
The application came from trustees acting on behalf of the late E Jackson of Braithwaite, with representatives arguing that there was a “clear case for approval.”
Committee member Mark Kidd proposed the application be granted and was backed by fellow member Judith Derbyshire.
Mr Kidd said the development would not affect the character of the village “too much”, although he conceded that Threlkeld had taken “quite a lot of housing in the past.”
“The impact on the landscape is minimal, however there is some impact, but we have to balance that with the advantages we receive from this development and that would be new affordable houses,” said Mr Kidd.
“We are always told that in planning no-one has the right to a view and this development will damage some of the view of some of the neighbouring properties, but that isn’t material, so we can’t really consider that as a planning implication, which must be very annoying for the neighbours in this case.”
Committee member Tiffany Hunt MBE said she too had a “lot of sympathy” for the impact but she was persuaded because of the importance of supplying new affordable housing to the national park
The panel agreed the scheme be approved subject to certain conditions and a Section 106 agreement – an agreement between the developer and the national park – being met within six months.
Four of the homes will be built in a terrace with the fifth being a detached bungalow.. They will go opposite three homes Mountain View, and Brooklyn House and Mount Pleasant.
Threlkeld Parish Council “strongly objected” to the scheme citing a loss of “open space, effect on the village character, over-development and intrusion on neighbours.
