Category: Parish Council

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

Warcop and Musgrave Parish Councils have recently met with the design team from Highways England and there has also been a Microsoft Teams Community Liaison Group meeting. This group had representatives from Appleby, Brough, Warcop, Musgrave as well as local councillors. Local residents should also have received a leaflet updating them on the latest plans for the upgrade to our stretch of the A66 between Appleby and Brough. (Apparently there is a similar leaflet for Kirkby Thore.)

At the first meeting, we were presented with x 10 detailed drawings of the route with junctions and the alignment. This was essentially HE’s preferred route. They also showed us some draft plans where the road at Warcop makes use of the existing carriageway and only one new carriageway is built, to keep the road further from properties. A new local road would be built behind the tank park on AONB and MOD land. Another road at the eastern end would be built on AONB land to create a local link onto Brough main street.

It is hard to describe much of this without detailed maps but the main points of our campaign are as follows:

1. A completely northern route should be considered and HE should draw up proper detailed plans to assess the advantages and any issues.

2. The junction at Sandford has now been moved back to the road end but does now have east and west connectivity. There are 4 storage ponds and the new carriageway goes unacceptably close to Dyke Nook Cottage and other properties. An alternative would be for the new carriageway from Café 66 to go to the north of the existing road, not south. (This is not AONB land.)

3. At Warcop, there are two options: the first has the road elevated thus increasing noise, air and visual pollution. The second is at the current ground level with a new bridge over the new dual carriageway just next to the current army P junction. This would lead onto the range and the new local road.

4. At Flitholme and Langrigg, we questioned why there needed to be a new access road from Flitholme to Langrigg. One idea was to build a new link road from Flitholme to the Warcop Musgrave road B6259 to avoid this. At Langrigg the owners of Low Broomrigg Cottage will be surrounded by two new access roads with increased traffic plus a four-lane highway closer to their and others’ properties.. We couldn’t see why the two existing lanes could not go under the new road and meet the old A66 as a T-junction and then residents can turn left and join the new road at Warcop or turn right and join at Brough via a slip road off the old A66.

5. At Brough, HE say if they can’t build the new access road to Brough Main Street, they will have to build the new dual carriageway to the south west of Brough, demolishing one house and connecting at the Musgrave Lane bridge. This also seems like an extravagant solution at further expense.

6. The two parish councils were told we would be sent electronic copies of their plans as well as paper copies. If we can share them on this website, we will.

7. We intend to call a public meeting at Warcop Parish Hall some time in July for local residents to express their thoughts and feelings about the current proposals. We will invite Highways England, Natural England, local councillors, our MP, the media and any other relevant people. We hope that as many local residents as possible will attend (subject to the Covid regulations in force at the time.)

8. Highways England say there will be a statutory public consultation in the autumn, possibly September.

While there are signs of some movement from HE, they say that our proposed northern route would not receive approval from statutory bodies such as Natural England or the Secretary of State for Transport. The test is that only in “exceptional circumstances” would a road be allowed to be built over AONB land. Highways England and Natural England seem to suggest it is preferable to worsen the air, noise and visual pollution for a whole community, in order to protect an area of dubious natural “beauty” which is essentially barren and unattractive. We continue to challenge that point of view and are quite prepared to seek a legal challenge and perhaps go to a future public inquiry, if necessary.

We recognise that there a mixed views and opinions on this issue but in our recent survey of Musgrave and Warcop residents, 94% of respondents preferred a northern route.

Thank you.

David Keetley

Chair, Warcop Parish Council

Many thanks to Tony Dent and Alan Burgess for their help in sanding down, cleaning and re-painting the goalposts on the Village Green in Warcop. Even the nets have been washed!

We hope that this will prolong the life of the goals for a few more years and give lots of enjoyment to the children and adults who play there.

Thanks,

David Keetley

The last meeting of Warcop Parish Council took place on Tuesday 9th February at 7:30 pm via Zoom. The agenda and minutes of the last meeting are below:

Get ready for winter weather by signing up to your energy supplier’s Priority Services Register (PSR).

Each energy supplier has a priority services register which allows them to prioritise their services to pensioners, young children and those with health issues during times of power cuts or poor weather.  It is free to join.  They each have slightly different criteria so check with your supplier to see if you are eligible to join and ask to be added to their list.

The electricity provider for Cumbria is Electricity North West.  Their application form is attached.  All you need to do is print the form, fill it out and send it back to them.  By being on their PSR they can provide you with blankets, torches, warm food and drinks and even alternative accommodation during prolonged power cuts.  You can also get a free home energy assessment from Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) to look at all of your utilities to see where you might be able to save on bills and where you can make improvements to your house and find funds to make these changes. 

If you need any help with signing up for this scheme, please ask any member of the Parish Council and they will be happy to assist.

– Electricity North West (Electricity) 0800 195 4141 

 www.enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/priority-services-register

– Cold Weather Priority Initiative (Oil) 0121 781 7267  www.ukifda.org/cold-weather-priority-initiative

– United Utilities (Water) 0345 072 6093  

www.unitedutilities.com/help-and-support/priority-services

Here is a link to a leaflet with further details and an application form about the Electricity North West scheme:

ITV Border News were invited to film and interview a few local residents to hear their concerns about Highways England’s proposed route for the A66. In the light of the 94% in favour of an alternative northern route, the reporter was keen to find out what the main concerns are and the impact of the new road which would come closer to the villages of Warcop, Sandford, Langrigg and Flitholme, thereby increasing noise, air and visual pollution.

Watch the programme on ITV on Wednesday 2nd December at 6pm