A leading Lake District businesswoman’s bid to build a new bungalow in the grounds of her hotel have been turned down by national park planners.
Carolyn Graves had applied to create a single storey “personal residence” around 250m from the 43-bedroom hotel Armathwaite Hall Hotel & Spa, and close to the northern shore of Bassenthwaite Lake.
Mrs Graves co-owns the business with her brother Charles, along with the nearby Lake District Wildlife Park, set in 400 acres.
Responding to the news this week, Mrs Graves told the Reminder: “We are obviously extremely disappointed with this decision taking into account one of the main reasons for which permission was sought. We are now reviewing our options with our planning advisors.”
Planners at Murley Moss refused the development after the proposal was registered back in February.
In its decision, the park said the application site was within an area of “exceptionally high landscape value”.
It said a bungalow would introduce a “large modern, uncharacteristic” property into a “currently undeveloped location”.
The need for a property close to the businesses were attributed to the daily “demands” on Mrs Graves to be on site, or close at hand for any business emergencies or issues, according to documents submitted by Savills, the Graves’ agents.
Continued “back and forth travel” from the business was becoming “unsustainable” for health reasons, documents in support of the application said.
A 104-page specialist landscape and visual appraisal report was submitted with the application to assess any impact.
The report’s findings were that with dense woodland on three sides, the bungalow site had a “strong sense of enclosure” by dense woodland which would “limit the landscape and visual effects”.
No objections were made, but planners at the Lake District National Park Authority decreed that a building in the grounds would have a “slight to moderate negative effect” on the landscape, and result in “less than substantial harm” to the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.
Workington MP Mark Jenkinson had written in support of the application. He told planners it was “vital” that local large businesses and employers can continue to play a key part in the local economy and sustain smaller local, independent businesses.
“I would agree with the conclusions of the landscape visual impact assessment, that the single storey bungalow will not affect the character of the national park,” he said. “There is a real danger that in attempting to preserve the Lake District National Park in aspic, you will in fact usher in a future that none of us wish to see.”
Planners said in their report that they did not accept a statement made in the proposal, suggesting that the absence of planning permission for the new accommodation “may cause the business to suffer”.
The planner wrote: “I find it difficult to conclude that the hotel would not remain viable if the additional accommodation was not provided. I do not doubt that having more accommodation located close to the hotel and available for members of staff of the hotel would be helpful to the business.”
