Oakmere’s 125 Cumbria homes lined up for success

Situated less than a five-minute walk from the village centre, the project would bring a mixture of apartments, bungalows, and houses to Milnthorpe.

Oakmere Homes’s application to build 125 homes in the South Lakeland village has been recommended for approval by Westmorland and Furness Council planning officers. The project will be debated by councillors next Thursday at the strategic planning committee meeting.

The site itself is 16 acres and irregularly shaped, hugging the former St Thomas’ vicarage, Milnthorpe Primary School, and Beetham Road.

Of the 125 homes proposed, 111 would be houses, six would be bungalows, and the remaining eight would be apartments. Most of these would have four or more bedrooms.

A back-and-forth between the developer and council has resulted in the inclusion of 19 affordable homes – a mixture of affordable rent flats, first homes, and shared ownership houses.

While this is below the desired 35% affordable homes for the site, the council’s planning team acknowledged that independent viability statements and those by Roger Hannah had shown that there were viability issues should the full 35% requested be delivered.

Smith & Love Planning Consultants are aiding Oakmere on the project. Also on the project team are PDP Associates, Envirotech, DTPC, Martin Environmental Solutions, BWB, M&P Gadsden Consulting Engineers, and Greenlane Archaeology.

You can learn more about the project by searching application reference number SL/2022/0305.

UPDATE 12/1: Westmorland and Furness Council voted on 11 January to defer the application.