Roanhead: Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
Coastal farmland next to an internationally protected estuary.
On the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula, where farmland and dunes give way to the internationally protected shores of Morecambe Bay and the Duddon Estuary, lies Roanhead. It sits next to Sandscale Haws National Nature Reserve – a place of natterjack toads and rare orchids, beloved by local people and vital for nature. For a community in Barrow that has often had to fight for investment and recognition, it represents something precious on the edge of town.
In 2023, developers applied to build a resort of 450 holiday lodges on this land. Following a wave of community opposition and objections from conservation organisations, that application was withdrawn – only for a revised scheme of 233 lodges to follow in 2024. Friends of the Lake District (CPRE’s local group in Cumbria), the National Trust, RSPB, Woodland Trust and Cumbria Wildlife Trust joined forces with the local community group Save Roanhead to object, setting out in detail the damage it would cause to internationally significant habitat. The local MP, Michelle Scrogham, was also a vocal supporter of the campaign.
In November 2025, Westmorland and Furness Council’s Strategic Planning Committee rejected the application. It was a victory for nature, for the community, and for the argument that the wild places on the edge of towns like Barrow deserves the same protection as anywhere else.
Visit www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/news/roanhead-saved to find out more.
On the Edge
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