Residents on the route to a thriving business park near Threlkeld Quarry remain opposed to its expansion which will nearly double the number of units there.
Householders in the vicinity of Glenderamackin Terrace have submitted objections to the plan for the nearby Blencathra Business Centre.
BEC, formerly Britain’s Energy Coast, the property managers and developers based at Moor Row, want to create “eco studio workshops”.
It would also mean an increase in parking spaces at the site.
The latest application was lodged just over two weeks ago with planners at the Lake District National Park Authority, which will make the final decision.
However, residents have written to its planners to warn that the extension would generate more traffic through the area.
Objectors Carol and Roy Smith have told the LDNPA that any expansion would seriously impact village life, wildlife and holiday letting businesses.
Their concerns include noise, disruption and disturbance as a result of construction traffic, HGVs and other vehicles going to and from the business park. “We are in the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site, not a city suburb, not an industrial estate, not the purpose-built Gilwilly,” they wrote.
Resident Rosemary Burril and her husband have also objected, calling the amount of extra traffic the extension would generate as “totally inappropriate”.
They said the impact on them would be “huge” as they already have experiences of lorries hitting their garden wall and causing damage nearby.
“As there are an extra 18 units planned it is inevitable that it will be made significantly worse again when the traffic increases even more,” the Burril’s wrote. Resident Kathy Miller also opposed the plan. She wrote: “I strongly object to the increase in the number of business units. My main reason for this is that the main access road to the Blencathra Business Centre is an unadopted road and it can’t cope with the existing traffic, let alone an increase in usage which this would create.”
Agents representing the applicants said previous studies had indicated 121 vehicles visited the site a day and a new development could increase that by 50.
However, it also said it had carried out a CCTV survey of vehicle movements and the results, over three “sample days”, showed an average of 36 vehicles coming onto site. As a result, it expects “at maximum, a further 27 vehicles a day”.
It also claimed the “majority of traffic” particularly HGVs, actually passed the houses on Glenderamackin Terrace and the business centre to go on to other destinations within the main quarry business area”.
Cumberland Council, as the highways authority, said the vehicle movements survey had not provided any “details” of when it was undertaken or in which part of the week, and said a fresh transport statement is needed.
Agents representing the applicants have told planners that the site had been “home to industrial activity” as far back as 1890 – adding that the quarry had been there for 154 years and the adjacent houses “wouldn’t be there if it had not been for the industry”.
Planners have been told that the latest scheme represents a “significant reduction” in the development area, scale and massing from previous designs.
Agents said: “Our proposed design provides a series of smaller self contained units. These are suitable for developing businesses to create diverse and expanding employment opportunities.”
