Save Roanhead

A major holiday park is proposed for the Furness peninsula, dangerously close to an internationally important nature reserve. Thousands of tourists would devastate the sand dunes and harm many rare species. This tranquil, coastal landscape is NOT the place for a monster holiday park.

Read on to find out more, or use our simple form to object online in minutes! 

Askam & Ireleth would be changed forever. The village roads would be congested with construction traffic, and a sewer system which already overflows into the Duddon Estuary would be overwhelmed. 

why is roanhead so special?

Roanhead and Sandscale Haws are an important habitat for 600 flowering plant species and over 500 species of fungi. 

Rare bee orchids and coral root orchids can be found here, as well as Cumbria's emblem grass of parnassus and sea holly.

Plover and lapwing nest close to Roanhead crag. Curlews rest on the farm fields where the resort would be built. Roanhead has wood warblers, barn owls and kestrels, marsh harriers and oystercatchers, skylarks, sparrow hawks, dunlins and sanderlings - and many more birds who rely on its tranquility for breeding and safety.

There are glow worms at Roanhead, as well as great crested newt, palmate newt and smooth newt. The area is a stronghold for UK endangered natterjack toads - a quarter of the UK's entire population live and breed here, relying on the quiet beach for their survival.

Roanhead has seven bat species living around its rocky outcrops and in the old mine workings and farm buildings where the resort would be built. There are otters on the site, and badgers close by.


This is OUR Wild Isles

Roanhead is a beautiful area of unspoilt and undeveloped coast on the Duddon Estuary north of Barrow-in-Furness, by Sandscale Haws National Nature Reserve.

Roanhead is the jewel in the crown of Furness, a very special place for diverse wildlife, and NOT the right area for a sprawling holiday resort with a swimming pool, sports and leisure facilities, a spa, shops, bars and restaurants.

A planning application was submitted by Andrew Coutts of ILM Developments in 2023. The resort plan for 450 lodges was withdrawn following huge public outcry and strong objections from Natural England, the National Trust, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Friends of the Lake District and many other wildlife conservation organisations. 

Even the developer's partners Landal GreenParks issued a public statement to say they had suspended discussions with the developer, and Cumbria Tourism stopped publicly supporting the resort plans. 

A second planning application for the controversial Roanhead Resort is expected in spring 2024. This website will be updated as soon as we have news, and the Save Roanhead group will actively fight any future plans for inappropriate development on the unspoilt coastline between Sandscale Haws and Askam-in-Furness.

The original plan for the Roanhead Resort in 2023. There were 3,700 objections and the application was withdrawn.

We're grateful to Friends of the Lake District who have been brilliant in everything they do, and are a key ally in our campaign to save Roanhead.

You can read all about their plans at https://www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/roanhead-lodge-development


It won't benefit local people - this will harm our community

Our town centre needs investment - but not this

Will rich tourists head in to Barrow to see the sights? 

Sadly, no, they won't.

We live here. We KNOW.