NEW plans for a controversial Kendal housing development have been submitted.

The scheme for the development off Natland Mill Beck Lane has been submitted twice previously but rejected on each occasion after a wave of objections.

An appeal against the second rejection was subsequently lodged but was later withdrawn.

The new plans envisage 26 new houses including nine affordable dwellings to be built on the site, which is bordered on one side by Helme Drive and the other by the bed of the former Lancaster Canal, but with access via Natland Mill Beck Lane.

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Agent Kate Bellwood of Kate Bellwood Associates, who are acting on behalf of applicants Oakmere Homes, said this application differed from previous submissions in that it was a full application rather than a request for outline planning permission.

“Following negotiations with SLDC, the appeal was withdrawn and a new application was prepared,” she said.

“This is a full planning application, containing detailed layout and house designs, a new footpath alongside Natland Mill Beck Lane, as well as the detailed highway improvements to Natland Mill Beck Lane itself.

“We believe the development of this site offers the opportunity to deliver new high quality family homes in a great location, but also to provide a permanent new off-road, and safer, pedestrian link from Natland Mill Beck Bridge to Burton Road which is a popular route for local people.”

However, a number of objections from local residents have already been lodged at South Lakeland District Council, who will be considering the application at a forthcoming planning meeting.

“To keep allowing areas like Natland Mill Beck Lane to be developed is really just creating further problems in the future and destroying the very thing that makes Kendal such a lovely place to live in the first place,” said one.

And another resident expressed concern at the threat to what they described as “a small but precious rural enclave.”

“The proposed development drastically changes the rural character of the area, turning fields into a housing estate and a virtually traffic free country lane into a busy, frustrating and potentially dangerous access road,” they said.