Outdoor Walney centre plan move step closer

Cumbria County Council wants to build an outdoor activity and environmental education centre on Walney

Plans for an outdoor activity centre on a Cumbrian island have been approved.

Barrow Borough Council supported the Cumbria County Council scheme on Walney but it will need to be approved by the levelling up secretary.

The plans feature an environmental education centre and an "urban park" for sports and leisure activities, the application said.

Sport England objected due to the loss of playing fields saying the proposal had "little relationship to sport".

The organisation said areas of the large site had been marked out as football pitches within the last five years meaning they should not be built on, adding: "A playing field needs to be maintained in order to be used effectively and a lack of use cited due to poor or inadequate maintenance cannot be considered as a lack of need for a playing field or pitches."

'Benefits everybody'

It said according to the plan, the "only sport element being retained would be an oval rounders pitch in the centre of the site", adding: "The other elements of the proposal have little to no relationship to sport."

Because of Sport England's objection, the committee was only able to say it was "minded to approve" the application, which is to be referred to secretary of state Michael Gove, and then will, providing he does not intervene, be sent to the borough council's head of development management for a final decision, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

At the planning meeting in Barrow, councillor Bill McEwan said the scheme "benefits everybody", adding: "It's a great thing that's coming."

Sheila Stephenson, who lives at the West Shore Park estate on Walney, said she was "not against it" but feared the site could be "abused" by people not using the centre and called for it to be policed.

"All hell could break loose and it could end up a white elephant," she said, adding: "Who's going to be on there to make sure they don't have fires?"