50 Lake District homes sail to approval

Hugr Homes, with its private equity firm FNS, is the applicant behind the scheme, which will also see the creation of eight short-term holiday let units and a 16,000 sq ft community hub.

Development will take place at a vacant 11-acre vacant site at Wellbank, a former Ministry of Defence barracks, off Church Lane in the village of Bootle.

At the Lake District Council’s development control committee, councillors followed planning officer recommendations to approve the scheme, welcoming the proposal to bring the empty site back into use.

Joe Higginson, managing director of Hugr Homes, told the meeting he was confident of demand for the development, and anticipates the build-out time for the houses will be two to three years, subject to market conditions.

The residential element of the project will be custom-built and delivered under a design code to ensure the units are in keeping with the Lake District’s unique heritage.

Brickhouse Cottages will be the operator of the holiday units, which will provide 15 bedrooms in total.

A pool and hydrotherapy pool will also be built along with changing rooms. It was confirmed at the meeting that the community will have two-hours of access every day to the pool.

A café/bar and meeting pods/workspaces will feature on the ground floor. On the first floor there will be a gym, staff rooms, meeting rooms, sensory room, hot desk office spaces, as well as a multi-purpose space for larger community events.

The project team includes Kate Bellwood Associates, Artform Architects, B2 Landscape Consultancy, PSA Design, Impact, and Envirotech.

To view the plans, search for reference number 7/2023/4052 on Lake District Council’s planning portal.