Changing shape but keeping their character
Two Lake District conservation areas – in Caldbeck and Hesket Newmarket - are to be extended following extensive national park authority consultations and a review of their boundaries by leading environmental heritage consultants.
Members of the Park Strategy and Vision Committee, meeting in Caldbeck, heard that both extensions involved relatively minor changes which would blend in with the current boundaries and would support the existing character of the conservation areas.
A report from national park conservation and design adviser David James explained that Ambleside was the first conservation area designated in 1980. By 2001 some 20 others had been added to the list and in May 2008 Helton became the 22nd conservation area. Both Caldbeck and Hesket Newmarket were designated in1983.
The report explained that sustaining and improving the landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage would be achieved by “supporting the development of new approaches to celebrating cultural heritage, design and the built environment.”
In 2007 the national park commissioned consultants to begin a review programme of appraisals and management plans for 13 current conservations area, including those for Caldbeck and Hesket Newmarket.
David James told members that Caldbeck was “surrounded by a patchwork of walled fields used for grazing cattle, which come right into the heart of the village and contrast with the open sheep-grazed fells that are visible from Caldbeck when the fells are not covered by low cloud”
By contrast Hesket Newmarket “consists of the historic core of a compact settlement located on a terrace above the banks of the River Caldew surrounded by gently hilly terrain of woodland and cattle pasture typical of the Cumbrian countryside south of Carlisle.”
Changes to both conservation areas will now have to be officially advertised in the local media and the London Gazette.
