Woman appeals planning refusal to build Keswick home

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 28 Oct, 09:58 · Archive

Alex Atanasova is appealing the Lake District National Park Authority's refusal to let her build a two-bedroom home in Keswick where she works.

Alex Atanasova, who works in Keswick, is appealing against the Lake District National Park Authority's decision to refuse her planning application in March. She wants to build a two-bedroom property on land at Vendace Court, off Borrowdale Road, in the Lake District town.

Atanasova says she cannot afford to buy an ordinary house in Keswick. In a personal statement accompanying her appeal, she said: "I work in Keswick but I do not live there, because I cannot afford to." She explained that house prices in the town are far beyond what she could borrow or afford, which is why she currently lives elsewhere and travels in to work. She said meeting local occupancy requirements through her employment and stopping this travel were motivations for her appeal.

"Building a modest home myself, on a small plot, is the only realistic way I can see of having somewhere of my own in the town where I work," she said. Her proposed home would be permanently restricted to people with a local connection, meaning it could never become a second home or holiday let.

However, the Lake District National Park Authority considers the plot part of the neighbouring Vendace Court development. Housing policies for that development require an additional property to meet affordable housing requirements rather than simply being restricted to local occupancy.

Permission was granted in 2022 for a smaller affordable bungalow on the same land, but it has not been built.

How it is being reported

• 'I cannot buy an ordinary house here' says woman fighting planners to build oneA woman who works in a Lake Disrict town but cannot afford to live there is appealing a planning refusal to build her own home, citing affordable housing rules.NW Evening Mail · 28 Oct, 09:48
• 'I cannot buy an ordinary house here' says woman fighting planners to build oneA woman who works in a Lake Disrict town but cannot afford to live there is appealing a planning refusal to build her own home, citing affordable housing rules.Westmorland Gazette · 28 Oct, 09:48
• 'I cannot buy an ordinary house here' says woman fighting planners to build oneA woman who works in Keswick but cannot afford to live there is appealing a planning refusal to build her own home, citing affordable housing rules.News & Star · 28 Oct, 05:00

In this story: Alex Atanasova · Lake District National Park Authority · Keswick

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