ORIENTEERS eager to establish an elite training base in the Lake District will have to look elsewhere after plans to develop a barn near Ulverston were knocked-back. National park planners unanimously rejected an application from the British Orienteering Federation to convert a barn at Colin Pit Farm, Oxen Park, into a residential centre to train world-beating orienteers. Members of the Lake District National Park Authority agreed with the conclusion of their officers that Oxen Park was too quiet to be disturbed by the comings and goings of orienteers and their minibuses. The proposed development, they ruled, was inappropriate in a designated quiet area of the National Park'. It was also contrary to a number of park policies and would be "incongruous and damaging to the beautiful and peaceful qualities" of the area.

January 10, 2003 09:30