A LUNESDALE community has been split by a plan to put up lights at an iconic landmark.

The suggestion that The Brow at Kirkby Lonsdale should be illuminated will be debated by Kirkby Lonsdale Town Council on Wednesday.

However, Kirkby Lonsdale and District Civic Society claims lighting The Brow would blight the historic visitor attraction and have a ‘detrimental impact’ on Ruskin’s View, named after the Victorian art expert John Ruskin and once painted by renowned artist Joseph Turner.

Five years ago, a special meeting involving the council and the public discussed lighting on The Brow but decided no work should be carried out. It was agreed another public meeting should be called if the council wished to discuss it again.

No such meeting has taken place and town councillor Robert Dewhurst has asked for it to be put back on the agenda. He said: “People are always saying they want lighting there. When people are making their way home at night they will be able to see where they are walking.”

Civic society chairman Ken Humphris said the council had no right to put it back on the agenda without a special meeting with the public to discuss it.

“At council meetings the public don’t get a proper chance to have their say. Lighting on The Brow would have a detrimental impact on the special place. No one wishes to have it there and they made that clear last time it was on the agenda.”

A dog walker who passes the spot regularly, John Peth, of Lupton, said he would not mind lighting as long as it was in tune with the area.

“If they were historic street lamps like the ones in the church then I wouldn’t mind that, but big modern lights would ruin the look of the path.”