Evolving plans for an exciting new community space focused on bringing people and the outdoors together have been shared with the community.
Drop-in sessions held at North Scale Community Centre and The Forum saw the latest proposals for Earnse Bay, on Walney Island, shown to members of the public.
Feedback will now be used to refine the scheme prior to the submission of a planning amendment later this year.
The new development forms part of the Brilliant Barrow Community Hubs project and will be funded through Brilliant Barrow, as well as Natural England via the National Lottery Heritage Fund and DEFRA.
It will aim to provide people of all ages with the opportunity to access the outdoors in a range of ways to deliver long term benefits for their health and wellbeing as well as for sustainability and the environment.
Complementing the Brilliant Barrow Town Deal Funding, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded Natural England, Westmorland and Furness Council, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Art Gene initial funding to develop a five-year project. The Earnse Project intends to operate from the new community space and will be delivered across the town.
Councillor Jonathan Brook, the Leader of Westmorland and Furness Council and Deputy Chair of the Brilliant Barrow Town Deal Board, said: “This is a wonderful location right on our doorstep and its essential that we get the right scheme for the community so that it can deliver huge benefits for the whole area.
“My thanks go to everyone who attended the drop-in sessions to take a look at the revised proposals and to offer their valuable feedback. This will be used to further inform the development of the scheme – one that will truly have been designed and developed in partnership with local people.”
The site, which extends to 3.37 hectares and is bound by West Shore to the west, West Shore Park to the north and east and Cows Tarn Lane to the south, is owned by Westmorland and Furness Council.
It currently consists of grassland and scrub, with a redundant changing room building, and some hardstanding that is no longer in use.
The latest designs for the site will see the creation of a space focused on outdoor activities, free to access trails and an opportunity to camp overnight in a purpose built and sensitively-sited area.
A building constructed on the site will be used to provide facilities and a community space.
In addition it is proposed that a new outdoor centre built by Natural England and funded via Defra will provide workshops, classrooms and meeting rooms whilst serving as a volunteer and operational hub for the Natural England team based at North Walney National Nature Reserve.
Feedback on the proposals can be provided via an online survey here: https://consult.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/westmorland-and-furness-council/earnse-bay-community-space
Paper copies of the survey are available from The Forum and Walney Library.
The survey will close on August 1.
