Proposed Ullock Moss Car Park

So another year is nearly over…

Since I last wrote there’s been one final Parish Council meeting to attend. Above Derwent PC with two controversial planning applications – one for affordable housing and one (a second attempt) for Ullock Moss car park.

Affordable housing itself is not controversial - I think everyone recognises that many villages need housing for young people and families - but the sites often are. Where housing applications are developer-led they often result in the wrong kind of housing (more big, expensive houses which price local young people out of the market), which we see being built all over the country. But this application split the council and we’ll have to wait and see what the Lake District National Park Authority decides.

A few days prior to the PC meeting I attended the last Derwent Safe & Sustainable Traffic Action Group meeting of the year. The clue’s in the name. They have views on the Ullock Moss car park proposal but a much wider remit, and are largely made up of people who are seeking ways to reduce car-use, promote other ways of travelling and keep the roads safe for all users.

The car park is not at all controversial for Green Party members – it’s clear. Don’t make more space for cars, if you are trying to reduce car-use! However not everyone thinks like us, and while it seems to me that there are more people in Portinscale who oppose this proposal than support it, there are still people who think it will take parked cars off the roadside. Again the National Park will have the final say, but we are quietly hopeful that it will be refused, because they have good policies on climate and car-use. We wait to see how they implement them.

The long cold spell caused a couple of road safety issues in other parts too, and I’m seeking additions to the gritting routes for next winter. These are agreed by the Executive apparently, so I’ve made representations to Cllr. Rollo, who has roads and transport in her portfolio.

Oh and suddenly there was a deadline for a Politics Column for the local newspapers looming. A quickly written homage to unions and their role in making sure working people have enough money to live on was delivered just in time.

After that I switched off my council phone and laptop and looked forward to some relaxing family time and some gentle sewing.

Turns out my daughter’s boyfriend works with apprentices and has concerns about what will happen to the money Cumbria County Council has built up in its Apprenticeship Levy scheme when the council disappears. (The money may well disappear too.) So on Christmas day I was given a helpful briefing on what this is, why it matters and what, if anything, I could do about it.  

After that Christmas was just what it should be - good food, good company and plenty of relaxation.

Together with a friend I make things to sell to raise money for good green causes locally, so once the festive days were over, that’s what I’ve been busy with. Here’s one!