Eden District and the Council Planning Strategy

1.6 Eden District is geographically large and mainly rural in character. The administrative District is the second largest, in terms of area, in England yet has a population of only 45581 (1991 Census) making it one of the most sparsely populated.

1.7 A significant proportion of the population resides in the main town of Penrith (pop. 13330) and a group of nearby villages. The remainder is scattered through a wide rural area which looks to the towns of Alston (pop. 2065), Appleby-in-Westmorland (pop. 2570) and Kirkby Stephen (pop. 2209) for many services and facilities. The District has experienced a high rate of population growth over the last decade, the 5.1% increase between 1981 and 1991 being the greatest rate of change in Cumbria. A substantial part of this results from immigration principally by people in older age groups, resulting in an ageing population.

1.8 The District has an exceptionally high quality of environment, its varied landscape including significant parts of the Lake District National Park and the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Eden valley itself, from which the District takes its name, is also of high landscape quality with large areas such as the Howgills and Westmorland Fells recognised as Landscapes of County Importance. Not only is the landscape of exceptional quality, so too is the District's rich heritage of towns and villages, many of which include fine seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings of local sandstone and limestone. The District accommodates a notable diversity of habitats. Some of these represent a resource of national or international nature conservation importance. Notable in this respect are the high Pennine fells and the areas of limestone pavement found in the southern part of the District.

1.9 Within this landscape the District's economy is largely based on agriculture and the extractive industries, both of which have seen job losses in recent years. Substantial growth in the service industries, most notably in tourism, has served to offset a proportion of those losses.

1.10 The District benefits from its location astride the M6 Motorway and A66(T) cross-Pennine Trunk route. It also has access to both the west coast main railway line at Penrith and to the Settle - Carlisle railway through five stations including those at Appleby-in-Westmorland and Kirkby Stephen. It must be recognised that, despite these advantages, improvements to both roads and to rail services continue to be required. Local public road transport services are very limited and present significant problems to some parts of the resident community..1.11 As has been previously mentioned, the Eden Local Plan will seek to make provision for that area of the District outside the Lake District National Park. The area covered by the Local Plan thereby considers the needs of a majority of the District and most of its population. All of the District's main centres fall within the Local Plan area as do varying proportions of the North Pennines AONB, the Eden, Lyvennet, Lune, Eamont and Lowther valleys and the Landscapes of County Importance mentioned above.

1.12 The Council's planning strategy for the Local Plan area draws upon national guidance, sub-regional strategies as set out in the Cumbria and Lake District Joint Structure Plan and upon a local appreciation of the problems and issues the area faces. This local appreciation derives both from the experience of the Council and from the views and wishes of the local community. The latter has been researched through consultation on preceding local plans and through the sponsorship of a programme of Parish Appraisals which has given twenty or so parishes an opportunity to examine community concerns in some detail.

1.13 A fundamental element of the Local Plan strategy is the protection of the countryside in general, and areas of special landscape, nature conservation or cultural value in particular, from unjustified and damaging change. The government's guidance on sustainable development, meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, also forms an essential basis for an approach which seeks to maintain and enhance variety of habitats, protect natural resources and promote efficiency in the use of energy.

1.14 Within this context the Local Plan strategy is to make provision for development in line with Structure Plan guidance. This will be directed in ways which it is considered will be most supportive of the continued vitality of the area's established communities and their social and economic needs. The strategy also includes support for the provision of those housing and employment opportunities and for the maintenance and enhancement of services and facilities which will particularly benefit local people and those with special needs.

1.15 It is the intention of the Council's strategy that the present balance between the urban and rural areas of the District be maintained. The Council does not wish to see urban centred growth take place at the expense of the vitality of the area's many smaller rural communities.

1.16 The following seven Plan Principles underlie the Council's strategy and form a basis for the policies and proposals of the Eden Local Plan. They provide a starting point from which the aims stated elsewhere in this document have been developed.