AN APPLICATION to site six holiday pods on agricultural land near Ulverston has been submitted to South Lakeland District Council.

The brains behind the diversification project at Low Flan Farm, Town Bank Road, want to 'add to the farm income and add tourism revenue to the area'.

Fruit from newly planted trees would be available to guests and wooden 'bug hotels' would be created to encourage biodiversity.

"The proximity of the farm to the Lake District and the Furness coast will ensure that the project will be of interest to people from the UK and overseas," says the design and access statement submitted as part of the application.

"It is intended to have the pod lettings all year due to the accessibility and popularity of the area with tourists."

The pods would be 6.7m in length, 3.8m in width and 2.9m in height. Each pod would contain a kitchen, a shower room with a toilet, a bedroom, a seating area with a sofa bed, a dining area and an external seating area.

"It is proposed to provide only one parking space to each pod as it is anticipated that visitors will be small family groups or couples travelling together," says the design and access statement.

"For occasional visitors arriving in two cars, sensible parking on the grass will be possible."

The statement says: "It is not proposed to dig out a lot of the hillside to accommodate the road nor the pods or parking spaces as this will create an unnatural appearance and create site-spoil that will need taking off site or disposing of around the farm."

A timber-framed, slate-roofed building would be constructed to house recycling and waste bins.

It is proposed to let the bin store, the pods, the parking areas and a newly created access road 'self-drain to the ground through natural percolation'.

The application, submitted by Ian Wilson, also describes the planned construction of a foul-water treatment plant to the east of the site.

An orchard would be planted as part of the scheme, as well as areas of meadow flowers. Bee hives would be erected in the orchard - away from the main site - to 'ensure they are not tampered with by guests and will only be maintained and operated by properly experienced apiarists/beekeepers'.