We've just had a press release from the Lake District National Park Authority which we're reproducing below verbatim.
As part of the Lake District National Park's ongoing property review, we invited offers through a formal tender process for eight properties. The deadline for bids concluded on Thursday 12 March 2015 and the current status is:
- We have identified new future owners for two properties
- We are in discussions with a charitable body for one property
- We have not managed to find a suitable new owner for the five remaining properties, including Stickle Tarn.
In progressing the tender process we made sure environmental protection and rights of way would be protected and the public's enjoyment of the land would be unaffected in line with the Vision for the National Park. This forms a key part of our strategy to ensure we hold on to the right pieces of land for the right reasons and to release funds for reinvestment and other improvements in the park. 96 per cent of the park is in alternative ownership, demonstrating we do not need to own the land ourselves to actively conserve and maintain it.
Further detail on the eight properties:
Stickle Tarn
We have received a number of tender bids and have given these careful consideration. However, at this stage we do not believe we have found a bidder who fully meets both our requirements and some of the concerns expressed by the local community and various interested parties.
We have listened to the community and taken on board their feedback. We remain committed to exploring alternative responsible ownership for Stickle Tarn and will work with the community and interested groups in the coming weeks.
Longbridge, Portinscale and Lady Wood (White Moss 1)
We have identified new owners for the two properties at Longbridge, Portinscale and Lady Wood, White Moss.
Both properties have been sold, subject to contract, to private individuals who we are confident will be responsible owners and are committed to caring for the sites and public access, in line with our requirements.
We are now in the process of carrying out legal and due diligence checks and hope to have completed the sales by the end of March.
Blea Brows
We have received an offer from a charitable body who we believe meets both our requirements and addresses those concerns expressed by various interested parties.
We believe this body will be a suitable future owner for Blea Brows, but at this stage we have not made a final decision and plan to discuss the potential sale further with the local community before doing so. We anticipate these discussions will progress during the next few weeks.
Blue Hill and Red Bank, Yewbarrow Woods, Waterside Knott and Baneriggs Wood (White Moss 2)
We have been unable to identify suitable new owners for these four properties as we did not receive any bids through the tender application process.
It is still our intention to sell these properties and we remain confident we will be able to secure future responsible owners for them. We are currently reviewing the feedback we have received and are in discussions with our agents on how best to achieve this whilst maintaining all our commitments to the future care of these sites.
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