Category: Community

Please be aware that the consultation on Highways England’s proposals to upgrade the A66 between Penrith and Scotch Corner starts on Friday 24th September and runs for six weeks until 6th November.

Please see our online petition on Change.org in support of our proposal for a northern bypass which is now online and please encourage lots of people near and far to sign it!

Petition · A66 new threat: listen to local people and save their health, livelihoods and environment · Change.org

Thanks.

Here is the link to the Highways England Consultation page. There are useful visualisations for each section, including Appleby to Brough:

A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Design Consultation September 2021 – Highways England – Citizen Space

Should you require paper copies of all these documents, please contact Highways England, newly named as National Highways, or I have 4 copies if you contact me.

Warcop & Musgrave Parish Councils have been lobbying Highways England to design a more northerly route which would take the new road away from the villages of Warcop and Sandford as well as individual properties along our section of the route.

While some welcome amendments to their design have been made, we still feel that the new road should be further away to reduce air, noise and visual pollution. We recognise that this would mean part of the road running across a small section of an Area of Outstanding Beauty, but we believe the needs of current and future residents should be more important than preserving a small section of low-grade land currently damaged by the activities of the MOD.

Please can you make sure you attend one of the face to face consultation events and also send in an official consultation form with your views? The more responses they receive saying their current proposals are unacceptable the better. The Warcop Parish Hall dates are Monday 4th to Wednesday 6th October.

Specifically, if they won’t consider our northern bypass proposal, then they can improve their design by a) building the new carriageway between Café 66 and Dyke Nook to the north of the existing road, not the south, including storage ponds; b) between Brough and Warcop, design a straight line new road to the north of the current road, thus reducing the need for complex junctions at Langrigg, Flitholme and Warcop. This would then join with HE’s route to the west of the army playing field.

We have also asked that they consider extending the non-road user section from Moorhouse Lane to Appleby, for cyclists, walkers, horse riders etc. In addition, we have requested that they construct a new footpath from the primary school in Warcop into the centre of the village for road safety reasons.

Here is a link to the consultation dates and venues table: https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-7JRFnL-fyeiiYaiwEM2LjhViDAwg8ygWGLv1Jt7lEoyZrdudzMVHlm2dtTWuXSDvpXSQPIt7834jXjyRXCwNNg/messages/@.id==AEIdcLpeOirgYUiAWA5zODiRm2c/content/parts/@.id==2/thumbnail?appid=YMailNorrin&downloadWhenThumbnailFails=true&pid=2

Please remember that this road will be there for hundreds of years so the chosen route must be safe for future generations and as far away from villages and houses as possible.

Thank you.

David Keetley

Chair, Warcop Parish Council

The next meeting of the Parish Council is on Thursday 12th August at 7:30pm at the Parish Hall. All members of the public are welcome to attend. Below you can find the agenda and last set of minutes:

You will be aware that this year’s Horse Fair has been re-scheduled and starts on Thursday 12th August. Warcop Parish Council, in consultation with the police and MASCG, will put in place various measures to ensure that the correct regulations are followed by our visitors.

In Warcop, only bow top caravans are permitted and no motorised caravans. There are designated places near Crooks Beck. Areas near the sheepfold, the village green and small areas opposite will be fenced off. Benches will also be removed temporarily.

In addition, following the successful 2019 trial, we will block off the layby adjacent to Crooks Beck with concrete railway sleepers to prevent motorised vehicles parking there. We apologise if this causes any inconvenience to residents.

Members of the Parish Council will meet the police at liaison meetings on the 3rd, 6th and 9th August at 12 – 1pm to discuss any issues. So if you have any concerns, please contact a member of the Parish Council, who will raise them directly with the police.

If you see any criminal or dangerous activity, please ring 101 and ask for the dedicated Horse Fair line.

Organised by Warcop & Musgrave Parish Councils

You are cordially invited to attend a public meeting on

Friday 23^rd July, 5pm at Warcop Parish Hall

A chance for you to express your views and ask questions about Highways England’s preferred route between Appleby and Brough, and to consider our alternative proposals.

This meeting is open to all members of Warcop and Musgrave Parishes and we have also invited members of the Highways England team, our MP, our District and County Councillors, a representative from Natural England and members of the Parish Councils.

Please find here a link to a planning drawing of our alternative A66 dualled route compared with Highways England’s proposals.