Newlands Valley Community Plan Prepared Autumn 2012 By Becx Carter Finalised Spring 2013- By Above Dewrent Parish Council in liaison with Becx Carter 1 | P a g e Contents Page General Introduction 3 Parish Background 4-5 Graphical Findings of Questionnaire 7 Summary of other key questionnaire responses 8-13 Action Plan of findings 14-20 Acknowledgements & Key contacts 21 Newlands Valley Community Emergency Plan 22 Appendix 1- Questionnaire 23-27 Appendix 2- Community Meeting Minutes 28-30 2 | P a g e Background Following a meeting that was held in Portinscale in March 2012 where a discussion was held regarding the preparation of a Community Plan for the Portinscale & Newlands Valley area it was felt by the residents of the Newlands Valley that the issues facing the two areas were dramatically different and as such the residents of the Newlands Valley decided to move forward with a community plan specifically for their area, whilst Portinscale worked on one for the Portinscale area. A working group made up of Jennifer Grange, Charlotte Hill & Keith Harryman was formed to work on the Community Plan for the Newlands Valley. Becx Carter a consultant was brought in to collate the results and produce the final document. The overall aim is that once the various communities in the Above Derwent Parish area (Portinscale, Newlands Valley, Thornthwaite & Braithwaite) have completed their plans a summary document will be produced bringing all the various factions together into common themes that will then be worked on by the Above Derwent Parish Council. One of the questions that was asked as part of the Newlands Valley Community Plan Questionnaire was what do you like least about living in the Newlands Valley, a summary of these results will show what the Newlands Valley Community Plan, hopes to work on and aims to address (within reason). Key themes that were raised in the what do you like least about the Newlands Valley question were; Traffic & transport for example, too much traffic, damage to/and quality of repairs to the roads, access in bad weather, distance from public transport facilities, lack of facilities for example children’s play area, recycling and internet speed, environmental issues for example shooting, parking in green fields, erosion of the landscape, too many visitors. These are all issues that are being considered as part of this plan, and the action plan at the end of this document will identify actions & associated timescales which aim to solve or improve upon the issues raised. Location covered by this Community Plan The Newlands Valley is situated in the Lake District SSW of the popular tourist hub of Keswick. For the purposes of this community plan the area covered starts at the Swinside Triangle (OS NY 246 219) and continues in a clock wise direction including Swinside Lodge, all the residential properties at Hawse End, round towards the Catbells Z-bends including Gutherskill, on towards Skellgill, round to Littletown, then on up the valley including Low Snab, Low House Farm, High Snab, Gill brow, Keskadale Farm (this being the furthest property in the Newlands valley on its approach to Newlands Pass OS NY 210 194), Aikin, Bawd Hall, Birk Rigg, Rigg Beck, Rowling End Farm, Stony Croft and Uzzicar. The area covered by this Community Plan finishes before (and Excludes) Little Braithwaite as this was felt to fit more closely with the Braithwaite area. The Newlands Valley Community Plan then continues back up the road that runs under Swinside, and finally encompasses all houses within the above described area including Swinside and Stair. General Overview The Newlands Valley is to be found South West of Keswick on the Western Side of Derwentwater, and is surrounded by some of the area’s most popular Wainrights including Catbells, Maiden Moor, Hindsgarth, Robinson, Causey Pike & Barrow. A number of small 3 | P a g e becks run through the area draining water from the surrounding fells, including Keskadale Beck, Scope Beck and Newlands Beck. The Newland Valley is part of the civil parish of Above Derwent and is located within the Allerdale Borough Council area. The area is dominated by its natural scenery as mentioned above and as such one of its main industries and employers is tourism including a number of accommodation providers, including The Swinside Inn Pub, Swinside Lodge Hotel & Littletown farm B & B, and outdoor Adventure activities provided by the Newlands Adventure Centre, and Hawse End, the other main industry/employer in the valley is upland farming. Within the area of this plan there are six working Upland Farms (Littletown, Low House Farm, High & Low Snab, Keskadale and Uzzicar with some of the land also farmed by Little Braithwaite & Ullock Farms). The main livestock farmed by these farms are upland sheep; however there are a few small beef & dairy herds remaining in the valley farmed by Keskadale & Little Braithwaite and Ullock Farms. History The earliest signs of human activities in the valley have been found outside the scope of this plan at Ullock where evidence of a Bronze Age burial site has been found. The name ‘Newlands’ was first used in the 13th century when it was used to describe new land that was created at the base of the valley between Portinscale and Braithwaite by the draining of a large marshy area. Mining was once a key industry in the local area and the evidence of this can be seen around the Newlands Valley area; many minerals including lead, copper, silver and even gold have been extracted from the valley over the years. Key Settlements The valley is sparsely populated, with many buildings standing alone, there are however a couple of small hamlets in the Newlands Valley area including Stair, Swinside and Littletown. Littletown’s claim to fame is that it was featured in the writing of Beatrix Potter, in The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Lucy’s Pocket Handkerchief can be found on the fell side above Littletown. The most well known house in the Newlands Valley was Rigg Beck or as it used to be known the ‘purple house’ which provided accommodation for many actors and speakers at the original blue box theatre including Ted Hughes, Tenzing Norgay, Doug Scott, and Bob Hoskins. The building was destroyed by a devastating fire in June 2008 and a replacement modern stone & slate building on the site has recently been completed. One of the questions asked in the Newlands Valley Community Plan Questionnaire was what did the respondents like most about the valley, I feel this is a valid place to include these findings as it sums up the Newlands Valley in the words of the residents. The majority of questionnaire respondents stated that the peace and quiet, views and beauty were the things they liked most about the Newlands Valley, other strengths that were raised were the quality of life, the community and its people, the low crime rate and of course the Pub! 4 | P a g e Demographic of the area The Newlands Valley forms part of the above Derwent Parish which at the 2001 census had a population of 1207 (587 men, and 620 women) and a total of 516 households. Of which around 70 can be found within the boundaries of the Newlands Valley (based on number of questionnaires delivered and a property count from detailed mapping). Considering the standard demographic across the Lake District of a predominately top heavy population split there are a number of children currently living in the Newlands Valley area (in excess of 10) who mainly attend Braithwaite Village School, with a view to progression to Keswick Secondary School. The questionnaire was circulated to all the Households in the Newlands Valley area (approx 70), and 26 responses were received in total, this is a response by 37%, bearing in mind that a number of the households in the Newlands Valley are second homes/holiday cottages the Newlands Valley Community Plan Steering Group were satisfied with this response. Process The development of the community plan commenced following a public meeting in Portinscale. Below is a summary of the steps that the steering group have taken, along with the future steps that they intend to take following the completion of this plan: 1. First meeting of the steering group, Charlotte Hill, Jennifer Grange, Keith Harryman in late March early April 2012 2. Draft questionnaire produced 3. Meeting between Jennifer Grange, Charlotte Hill & Jackie Knights (clerk to Above Derwent) to proof the questionnaire 4. Questionnaire circulated to all properties in the Newlands Valley- First week of June 2012 5. Public meeting held at Stair Institute 4th July 2012 to discuss the findings of the questionnaires returned and how to progress from here 6. Final deadline for all questionnaires to be returned- 18th July 2012 7. Draft Community Plan to be completed by the end of September 2012 8. Draft Community Plan to be circulated to all those who attended the public meeting 9. Any alterations/changes to be finalised October 2012 10. Final Newlands Valley Community Plan to be completed and put before the Above Derwent Parish Council November/December 2012. 11. Newlands Valley Community Plan to meet and refresh/update the Newlands Valley Community Plan in 3 & 5 years time. Summary of results 5 | P a g e The questionnaire that was circulated to all the households in the Newlands Valley covered many different areas, and included a total of 24 questions, some of the results can both be demonstrated in a quantifiable and graphical manner (predominately questions 1-17), but there were also those which required written responses (18-23). A fully copy of the questionnaire that was circulated can be found at Appendix 1 of this plan.