The go-ahead has been given to plans for the future of Keswick Youth Centre, as the trust in charge eyes up a move to a new permanent home.
Planning permission was granted this week for proposals to turn land at The Old Mill off Main Street into a 28-space car park, which will provide much-needed income ahead of Keswick Youth Centre Services acquiring a new site for the town’s youth centre.
The charity hopes to buy the former Keswick School of Industrial Art building on the opposite side of the River Greta, currently home to The Bridge cafe, and is keen for the car park to provide funds to help run the new permanent youth centre.
However, with a steep price of more than £850,000 to meet, Keswick Youth Centre Services also sought permission to build a new youth centre on the land at The Old Mill, as a contingency should it not secure funding in time to make the purchase.
These plans were also approved at Wednesday’s Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) development control meeting.
Plans for the construction of a new car park and for a new youth centre have attracted fierce opposition from neighbours and adjacent businesses, stating that a car park on the land would condemn them to a “life of misery”, and that the proposed new-build youth centre would result in a “claustrophobic, hemmed-in feeling for the families” who live in the immediate vicinity.
Alongside the new youth centre, which would be built on the site of the former centre demolished after being damaged by flooding in 2009, the go-ahead was also given to build four flats and three offices as part of the development.
Residents of Old Mill Court and Greta Grove House adjacent to the land have fought the plans for the new development since they were announced, though residents of the Greta Grove House block of flats were said to be in favour of the proposed car park.
Speaking on behalf of neighbouring residents, along with adjacent businesses Plant by Kat’s Kitchen and Biketreks Keswick, Old Mill Court resident Brian Moffat urged LDNPA development control committee members to reject the plans, stating that the proposed building would be “overbearing” and “dominant”, “overlooking the residents of both Old Mill Court and Greta Grove House”.
“This massive structure is not in keeping with its location, and is over development of a small, sensitive site,” Mr Moffat said. “It would create a loss of amenity, a loss of natural daylight, and in view of all of us residents, a claustrophobic, hemmed-in feeling for the families who live here.”
He stressed that local residents and businesses were not in opposition to the prospect of a new youth club, rather that the plans were not suitable.
“We as residents hoped that the youth club would negotiate with us and local businesses, and reach a solution suitable for the site.”
Mr Moffat also presented concerns expressed by the director of neighbouring business Biketreks, Simon Hockings, who had written to the authority saying that “giving the green light to place a permanent car park in this residential location condemns the residents to a life of misery, congestion, pollution and excessive risks to their health and safety, on a daily basis”.
“Surely, with over 1,600 car parking spaces in Keswick, not counting back-street parking, we do not need another one,” he said. “If any staff member or customer cyclist gets knocked over by a car as a result of this scheme, then they will look no further than to blame the wanton disregard for any health and safety planning by the LDNPA.”
However, Cumbria County Council’s Highways department raised no objection to the principle of a car park operating in the area.
Mr Hockings also expressed concern that once in place the car park could be sold on to “any number of nefarious car park operators, who feel no remorse in clamping and fining customers, extending their opening hours in order to maximise profits”.
Gary Lovatt, trustee of Keswick Youth Centre Services, rejected this notion saying that the charity trustees “have a duty to make sure that we use the land bequeathed to us for the good and benefit of the children”.
Mr Lovatt told the meeting that the youth club would rely on income from the car park to help run its operations, and is particularly keen to ensure that the club remains “free at the point of use” for its children.
“We want to make sure that our children have a future here, and want to stay in Keswick,” he said.
Mr Lovatt explained that the car park, which would operate between 7am and 7pm, would include a mixture of public parking spaces and contract spaces available on a long-term basis to nearby residents or businesses.
