Meadow saxifrage that flourished at Ghyll Brow In lockdown, we walked from home to Scout Scar. The Nature Cure was essential to our well-being. It always is. On foot from Kendal, past Ghyll Brow, past Stainbank Green to Scout Scar, seeking peace, engaging with the natural world and with local people who have long held this place in high regard.
Road closed for 6 weeks, from 7/2/22,' reads a road-sign. With our direct and daily route prohibited we have less freedom than in lockdown. It undermines our way of life.
Road closed for 6 weeks, from 7/2/22,' reads a road-sign. With our direct and daily route prohibited we have less freedom than in lockdown. It undermines our way of life.
Will the road reopen, as scheduled, on 18th March 2022? I suggest there should be substantial penalties for each day over-run, a high price for Story Homes to pay with money targeted toward environmental restoration. Much of the damage is, of course, irrevocable.
Nothing prepared us for the scale of environmental damage, the loss of habitat, loss of species. To reach Scout Scar, we must somehow negotiate a wasteland of noise and pollution, with the danger of heavy vehicles and fast traffic on a narrow country road. For six weeks we won't have access at all.
I mourn the loss and I am far from alone in this lament. Many walk this way daily, and have done so all their lives.
Nothing prepared us for the scale of environmental damage, the loss of habitat, loss of species. To reach Scout Scar, we must somehow negotiate a wasteland of noise and pollution, with the danger of heavy vehicles and fast traffic on a narrow country road. For six weeks we won't have access at all.
I mourn the loss and I am far from alone in this lament. Many walk this way daily, and have done so all their lives.
Brigsteer Rise is the new name for a building site. I write about this place under its usual name of Ghyll Brow. Use the search on my website and you’ll find posts celebrating discoveries in all seasons, all weathers. We locals know it in a way sub-contractors and out-of-area planners do not. It is folly to locate a junction to Brigsteer Rise off the narrow Brigsteer Road at an awkward angle and up an embankment. It’s the frost line. When temperatures drop, ice forms here. And the hydrology is complex. A junction leading to Stainbank Green already exists. It is safer and more suitable, being on level ground and curving gently to meet the Brigsteer Road. We all made this point at consultation meetings with SLDC back in 2012. We discussed the need for 20 mph road-signs and a continuous footpath, to be in place prior to house building. We believed these common- sense and needful measures would be introduced. Nothing has been done to address the issue of pedestrian safety in the subsequent ten years. It came as a shock that there would not be pedestrian access, for six weeks. Locals did not know this. Communication is negligible.
How environmentally-friendly are housing developments at Ghyll Heights and Brigsteer Rise? In the year of COP 26 we should expect to find eco-friendly specifications in planning, design and construction. Will there be sustainable construction, using sustainably sourced materials? Will houses be energy-efficient, low carbon? I searched the Story Homes website for Brigsteer Rise, hoping to read of their commitment to the eco-friendly build. Finding nothing, I rang Story Homes asking where I might find their policy statement. The lady did not know but said she would ring back. I’m still waiting.
So, what is lost? From Ghyll Brow to Stainbank Green trees have been felled all along the embankment which was a wildlife corridor. JCBs gouge out the earth where the road junction is planned. Here was a pasture where meadow saxifrage and cuckoo flower grew, a barn owl hunted here. Long-tailed tits and tree creepers nested. Kestrel used to nest in the barn abutting the building site at Ghyll Heights. Here is habitat lost, wildlife corridors lost, species lost. Visually, it’s shocking. It’s noisy and dangerous. This way for the nature cure, through road-works and building sites!!
Incomprehensible that the SLDC spent so much of our money on consultation meetings where we were invited to write down measures to mitigate environmental damage, to safeguard walkers bound for Scout Scar. All that was discussed and agreed has been ignored.
I contacted Cumbria Highways, twice, to ask if the road would still be open to pedestrians during the specified six weeks. It will not. I explained that we had been promised a continuous footpath and 20 mph road signs back in 2012. I was told no money would be available for the coming year for road signs saying ‘ Slow’ (meaningless and not what we asked for). More evasion.
I feel for young people, fearful of the consequences of Climate Change, angered to see such reckless destruction of the environment, of habitat, of species. Do not believe that the older generation acquiesces and does nothing. We may achieve little but we are fighting for your inheritance, for all that is wondrous in Nature.
How environmentally-friendly are housing developments at Ghyll Heights and Brigsteer Rise? In the year of COP 26 we should expect to find eco-friendly specifications in planning, design and construction. Will there be sustainable construction, using sustainably sourced materials? Will houses be energy-efficient, low carbon? I searched the Story Homes website for Brigsteer Rise, hoping to read of their commitment to the eco-friendly build. Finding nothing, I rang Story Homes asking where I might find their policy statement. The lady did not know but said she would ring back. I’m still waiting.
So, what is lost? From Ghyll Brow to Stainbank Green trees have been felled all along the embankment which was a wildlife corridor. JCBs gouge out the earth where the road junction is planned. Here was a pasture where meadow saxifrage and cuckoo flower grew, a barn owl hunted here. Long-tailed tits and tree creepers nested. Kestrel used to nest in the barn abutting the building site at Ghyll Heights. Here is habitat lost, wildlife corridors lost, species lost. Visually, it’s shocking. It’s noisy and dangerous. This way for the nature cure, through road-works and building sites!!
Incomprehensible that the SLDC spent so much of our money on consultation meetings where we were invited to write down measures to mitigate environmental damage, to safeguard walkers bound for Scout Scar. All that was discussed and agreed has been ignored.
I contacted Cumbria Highways, twice, to ask if the road would still be open to pedestrians during the specified six weeks. It will not. I explained that we had been promised a continuous footpath and 20 mph road signs back in 2012. I was told no money would be available for the coming year for road signs saying ‘ Slow’ (meaningless and not what we asked for). More evasion.
I feel for young people, fearful of the consequences of Climate Change, angered to see such reckless destruction of the environment, of habitat, of species. Do not believe that the older generation acquiesces and does nothing. We may achieve little but we are fighting for your inheritance, for all that is wondrous in Nature.
In Spring 2020 glorious weather coincided with Covid 19 lockdown. We could walk from home, no further. My Covid Diaires, (see blog archive for April 2020) show locals all walking up from Kendal, via the Brigsteer Road and Ghyll Brow, to find freedom and inspiration on Scout Scar. That's the route everyone takes. It's where we meet friends and neighbours and stop for a chat. It is a long-established tradition, too precious to be lost.
Ghyll Brow an approach to Scout Scar
Where does the countryside begin? We may not find it tomorrow where we left it yesterday.
( copyright. from Cumbrian Contrasts A Vision of Countryside. Jan Wiltshire 2016)
Ghyll Brow an approach to Scout Scar
Where does the countryside begin? We may not find it tomorrow where we left it yesterday.
( copyright. from Cumbrian Contrasts A Vision of Countryside. Jan Wiltshire 2016)
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