Ambitious plans for University of Cumbria campus in Barrow to take step forward

The scheme would see the University of Cumbria build a site off Buccleuch Dock Road in the town.

It is hoped the campus can reap 'immense social and economic benefits' for the borough and retain and attract young people to work in Barrow. 

The plan is to be considered by a meeting of the borough council's planning committee today. 

It has been recommended for approval 'in principle', but there are issues over plans for sustainable transport and for mitigating flood risk.

In a pre-meeting report, a spokesman for Cumbria County Council's highways department recommends refusal of the application 'with regret'.

The spokesman says that 'insufficient' information has been provided and that 'further consideration' is required to improve pedestrian and cycle routes to the site.

Councillors are to scrutinise an application for a university campus in Barrow. Picture: Barrow Borough Council (Image: Barrow Borough Council)

"Due to the existing issues with parking and the proposal that the majority of the students will be coming from BAE, where it has been calculated 71 per cent of staff come to the area via a car, we have requested that a robust car parking strategy and green travel plan is required to better understand these figures," he says. 

Among the measures that should be included in the travel plan, he says, are electric vehicle charging points and secure cycle parking.

The university campus would be constructed on BAE Systems operational land adjacent to the waterfront. A BAE storage building would be partially demolished to facilitate the new building.

A spokesman for the county council, commenting in the council's capacity as the lead local flood authority, says 'more information is required to remove the possibility of flooding'. The spokesman recommends the application for refusal.

In her conclusions, case officer Maureen Smith says the 'economic and social benefits score highly' in the planning balancing exercise.

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She says the campus design is of a 'high standard' and that it would constitute a 'unique, contemporary building along the waterfront in contrast against the surrounding anonymous industrial sheds'.

However, she acknowledges that there remain unresolved issues around drainage and a lack of 'adequate' cycling and walking provision.

She recommends that planning committee members support the principle of the scheme subject to the resolution of issues around drainage, car parking and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.

She also advises delegated authority to determine the application be given to the borough council's head of development management.