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Fate of Waterfoot car park in Pooley Bridge to be decided

BBC Ullswater Steamers pier at Pooley BridgeBBC
The Ullswater 'Steamers' pier at Pooley Bridge can be accessed on foot from the car park

The fate of a Lake District car park is to be decided as government planning chiefs re-examine the case.

Temporary permission was granted for the Waterfoot car park in Pooley Bridge in 2019, but a bid to keep it open was rejected by the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA).

An appeal against the ruling will be heard by the Planning Inspectorate on Tuesday.

Many who use the site want it to stay, but the LDNPA says it is "unlawful".

'No-brainer'

Miles McInnes, chair of Barton and Pooley Bridge Parish Council, said the car park had been a "real lifesaver in many ways".

"This one is just so well placed, because it's the first place you come to as you leave the M6 or the A66," Mr McInnes told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"It's on the bus routes, it's on Ullswater Way. There's a path through to the village and to the steamers.

"Everyone I talk to wants it kept. I haven't really heard anyone objecting to it. It's a bit of a no-brainer really."

Miles McInnes, chair of Barton and Pooley Bridge parish council
Mr McInnes said keeping the car park was a "no-brainer"

Jim Douglas, adviser at Ullswater 'Steamers' said the car park was "really important" both to the company and the valley.

Mr Douglas said: "It's a provided resource people are using on a regular basis and it's encouraging exactly what we should be encouraging, which is people to get out of their cars, park them and leave them and experience this fantastic landscape."

Helen Thornley, who will be representing 200 objectors to the proposed closure of the car park at the appeal, added: "It just makes sense to have it where it is and with a little bit of landscaping, which we appreciate it needs, I think it'd be a really valuable spot going forwards."

But the LDNPA says the car park is "unlawful".

Andrew Smith, head of development management at the LDNPA said that the original proposal was that the car park was "temporary".

"As the car park is still there, we consider it to be unlawful and have served an enforcement notice requiring the landowner to do what was originally proposed and is shown on the approved plans," he said.

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