Red squirrel survey finds nests near housing site

Plans for houses at a former fire station will go back before councillors after an independent report found evidence of red squirrels there.

The development, at the site on Station Road in Cockermouth, was approved in 2023 but was deferred by Cumberland Council after it was discovered the application was submitted with old ecological reports.

The council's planning committee has now voted to accept findings of an updated red squirrel survey, which found two nests nearby and recommended keeping trees there.

Wildlife campaigner Gabrielle Sanders said she hoped the council would now consider the development's "impact on the protected and endangered red squirrels".

The development has been put forward by businessman Bill Dobie, whose designs include building six houses and a block of 10 flats on the site, known as The Sidings.

The site has already been converted into flats but the new development would involve cutting down dozens of trees.

Dobie previously said more trees would be planted than already existed on the site and the development would create a "much more healthy environment in the future".

Sanders, who has been campaigning against the plans, said she hoped the council would "take seriously the need to protect the natural green corridor and recognise their duty to ensure the survival of a protected species whose existence in the site... is now proven.

"We urge the applicant to reconsider his plans, to reduce the impact of his development plans on the red squirrel habitat."

She said fellow wildlife campaigners' preferred outcome was an amended development, where tree removal was not required.

Cumberland Council met on Wednesday and heard if it did not accept the findings of the squirrel report, which was commissioned by the local authority, a full survey would need to be carried out at a cost of £44,750, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The full application will go back to the committee for a decision.

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