News

Roanhead Farm development risks irreparable harm to nature

Published:: 23 February 2024
Last updated:: 09 April 2025

View of the beach at Sandscale Haws National Nature Reserve, in the Lake District, Cumbria | © National Trust/Paul Harris

We welcome the news that the application for 230 lodges and associated development at Roanhead on the Furness peninsula has been refused.

The development posed a serious threat to the National Nature Reserve at Sandscale Haws, and to internationally significant Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary designated sites. This decision will help to ensure that local people can enjoy this special place for generations to come, and that vital conservation work continues to safeguard it.

Revised Roanhead Farm development

In April 2025, a revised planning application for the Roanhead Farm redevelopment, which lies directly adjacent to the nature sites was submitted by developer ILM Group for a holiday park with 233 cabins and associated leisure and retail facilities. In November, the planning officer recommended refusal of the application.

Statement from nature and landscape charities, November 2025

Along with a coalition of nature and landscape charities inlcuding Friends of the Lake District, Woodland Trust, RSPB, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust and Cumbria GeoConservation, we strongly supported the planning officer’s recommendation to refuse the application for 230 lodges and associated development at Roanhead. The proposed development was a serious threat to the internationally significant Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary designated sites and the National Nature Reserve at Sandscale Haws.

Along with the Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness, Michelle Scrogham, we had significant concerns about the proposed 233-lodge resort at Roanhead, on the west coast of the Furness peninsula.

The proposal lay immediately adjacent to multiple protected sites of international importance for nature: the Duddon Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest; Duddon Estuary Ramsar Site; Morecambe Bay Special Area of Conservation; and the Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary Special Protection Area would all be negatively impacted. The site would also have bordered an area of Ancient Woodland and Sandscale Haws, a National Nature Reserve and Local Geological Site, as well as Roanhead Mines County Wildlife Site, all of which would have been under threat from the proposal.

We urged Westmorland & Furness Council’s Strategic Planning Committee to follow the officer’s recommendations and reject this application (B06/2024/0024) for the reasons set out below.

We are not aware of any other application that has previously received such a significant level, and strength, of objection from both local people and organisations in the area.

Details of objections to the planning application

A Habitats Regulation Assessment was carried out but contained evidence gaps and contradictory information and also underestimated the value and special qualities of the internationally designated sites. It therefore did not provide a full and robust assessment of the likely significant impacts on them. The applicant had also significantly underestimated the amount of people staying on the site who would have visited the sensitive habitats. A range of proposed mitigation measures were identified in the Appropriate Assessment but these were not evidenced, measurable or robust and some may themselves have made the adverse effects worse by attracting even more visitors to the designated site.

As well as the adverse impacts on internationally designated sites, the development would have resulted in long term harm and damage to the Sandscale Haws National Nature Reserve and the protected species it supports (including curlews and endangered natterjack toads). The assessment of the impact of disturbance on such species was insufficient.

The development would also have lead to the loss of and deterioration of irreplaceable habitat (ancient woodland).

Given the above, approval of the application would have meant that Westmorland and Furness Council had failed to discharge its duties set out in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act.
We had serious concerns regarding the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment that supported the application.

The development would have significantly altered the landscape character of the area (and would have been in conflict with the Cumbria Landscape Character Guidelines and Toolkit) with clear visual impacts when looking to and from Roanhead, including from viewpoints within the Lake District National Park. The development, including associated lighting and the significant increase in visitor numbers, would have spoiled the tranquillity of the area.
Roanhead is deeply valued by local people and a key part of what makes the area special. Together with Sandscale Haws, it provides a vital and locally accessible resource for residents of Furness. By introducing thousands of additional visitors, along with noise, litter, lighting and traffic, this proposal would have reduced both the sense of remoteness and wildness, peace and quiet that local people visit the area to experience, and the health and well-being benefits it provides to them.

In summary

As well as the issues above, additional concerns were raised regarding flood risk and exacerbation of climate change, coastal erosion and land instability. These cumulative adverse impacts would significantly outweigh the very limited economic benefits of the development.

The applicant’s assumption that a significant proportion of visitors would only engage in on site activities during their stay contradicted their statements regarding visitor spend in the wider Furness area. It suggested that the applicants’ assessment of the benefits to the local economy was a gross overestimate.

The scale and nature of the proposed development was fundamentally at odds with such a sensitive location and represented an existential threat to Sandscale Haws National Nature Reserve.

We therefore urged Westmorland & Furness Council’s Strategic Planning Committee to endorse the planning officer’s recommendation, refuse this application and preserve this special place.

Michelle Scrogham, Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness, said: “The proposed development at Roanhead would be disastrous, causing irreversible damage to this special place.

It is not often that such a broad range of groups unite with local people to oppose a planning application in this way. This coalition of respected organisations have joined with residents because of the ecological importance of Roanhead and the threat that these plans would pose to endangered wildlife, coastal erosion, flood risk, and land instability.

Roanhead is a place of international ecological importance and at the same time hugely valued by local people who have enjoyed and looked after this land for generations. We must ensure that it is protected to be enjoyed by future generations in the same way.”

Dan Taylor, National Trust General Manager for South and East Cumbria and Morecambe Bay, said: “We remain of the view that a development of the scale and nature proposed is fundamentally at odds with such a sensitive location. Local people have helped us to make Sandscale Haws a world class nature reserve. The disturbance and pressure which will inevitably arise from this development proposal poses an existential threat to this much-loved gem.”

The film we commissioned to mark 40 years of Sandscale Haws NNR, Our Home on the Sand, is a beautiful summary of why this place is so special for local people.

Steve Trotter, Chief Executive of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: “The wildlife of Sandscale Haws and the Duddon Estuary is priceless, highly sensitive and irreplaceable. If it’s allowed to go ahead, this development could put all of this at risk. Future generations of people in Barrow and Furness – and across the UK – will not forgive us for allowing this special place to be irreversibly damaged and despoiled. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. The right decision is to reject this application: it’s the wrong proposal in the wrong place!”

Lorayne Wall, Head of Planning and Policy at Friends of the Lake District, said: “Friends of the Lake District stand firm alongside the many local residents and environmental organisations that have objected to plans for this resort, and shares their deep concerns about the many impacts this proposal will have.

In addition to harm to internationally important biodiversity, a development of the type and scale proposed will significantly compromise the local landscape, and local people’s enjoyment of it.

67,000 additional visitors, and the associated pressure on the area from trampling, litter, noise, lighting and traffic, will destroy forever the wildness, peace and quiet that local people currently enjoy, value and benefit from here."