A BUSINESS centre set in a Grade II Listed country estate near Kirkby Lonsdale has been given the green light to embark on an ambitious redevelopment programme.
Underley Business Centre, part of the Underley Estate in the hamlet of Kearstwick, is set to revamp several derelict buildings next to the currently-in-use offices which will form a central courtyard, around which a new cafe, farm shop, workshop units, leisure units and offices spaces will be built.
The Design Statement of the application, submitted to Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Planning, says: "The existing portal frame buildings offer little merit in use and aesthetic on the site and are mainly redundant and tired.
"The proposal will expand on the current as well as create a central social use and movements around the site.
"The conversion of the buildings are based on the concept of creating and utilising spaces through and around the existing footprints whilst utilising the scale and details.
"A central internal corridor will be created at that the junction of the two buildings through large barn timber doors following the column route through with glazed links on both sides."
A new car park would be built on the site, within view of the Grade II* Listed Underley Hall, creating 40 new parking spaces to accommodate the extra traffic that the cafe and farm shop would bring, however the Planner's Report says that sufficient screening would be provided by landscaping, excavation down to road level, and a boundary wall.
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The conclusion of the Design Statement in the application says: "This development will provide a positive contribution to Kirkby Lonsdale and the surrounding area.
"The proposal will provide a positive public, economic and building restoration benefit to the local area by rejuvenating the largely redundant buildings.
"It will provide economic investment which will result in the continued employment and provision of local services already established at Underley Business Centre."
Kirkby Lonsdale Town Council recommended approval of the proposal but Cumbria County Council Highways recommended "additional signage and carriageway markings on the access drive to better alert all road users to one another."
The Planner's Report concluded: "The proposal has been sensitively designed and would reuse both traditional and modern buildings to create a sustainable contemporary building complex to complement the listed buildings at Underley Hall Farm."
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