BEAUTY SPOT TURNED INTO 'BOMBSITE' AFTER ECO CHARITY SELLS TO HIGHEST BIDDER
A beauty spot was left “like a bombsite” after a cycling charity sold it to the highest bidder, it has been claimed.
The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, also known as Sustrans, has been accused of acting in an “irresponsible and cavalier manner” by selling a plot in the Pennine fells in Cumbria described as a part of British railway history.
A developer bought the 6.3 acre plot, a bridleway which lies on the route of the former Lord Carlisle’s Railway, at auction in November for £19,500, and has been accused of using a 22-ton excavator to “desecrate” the land.
The former industrial and colliery railway, on which George Stephenson’s Rocket ran in the early 19th century, closed in 1923. The bridleway has been used by walkers, cyclists, riders and nature lovers for many years and lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Now a councillor for the area has written to Moray Macdonald, the Trust’s chairman, to protest at the work on the land and to demand the charity explain its actions over the site, which it bought in 2003.
And residents are planning a community buyout to create a “safe active travel corridor from the Northumberland border to Brampton” along the former railway.
Michael Newberry, the developer who bought the land, told The Telegraph he attended a public meeting where he apologised for the excavation work – which was intended to clean water courses – and had offered to sell the site to the community for £50,000.
More than 120 people attended the meeting, at which the site was described as now “looking like a bombsite”
In his letter to the Trust, Roger Dobson, a member of Cumberland council, wrote: “I am deeply troubled that a charity whose stated purpose is to ‘make it possible for every one of us to roll, ride, amble, gambol, stride, trek and tread’ and ‘to work with communities to effect change on the ground’ could dispose of this land … without any consultation with the local authority or with the communities directly affected.”
He also outlined “serious concerns” that the seller’s pack for prospective buyers stated the charity “does not know” if the land had been used for recreational purposes. “This was not merely inaccurate – it was untrue,” Mr Dobson wrote.
He claimed the charity was “fully aware of extensive public use”, in part because it was contacted recently when a horse rider fell through “rotten” bridge timbers there.
“To suggest ignorance of public use is indefensible,” he added. “Quite frankly, I am dismayed that a charity with your reputation,and with stewardship over substantial public and charitable funds, could act in such an irresponsible and cavalier manner.”
Mr Dobson also claimed the charity had also never explained why it “abandoned” its “original intention” of creating a cycle route on the plot it acquired in 2003.
Loss of nature ‘of serious concern’
Chris Woodley-Stewart, the director of the North Pennines National Landscape, which runs the AONB, said that plot was “of great importance to the local community who have enjoyed walking and nature watching for many years in this location”.
He said the excavator had damaged grassland and wet woodland, which has been home to adders, water voles and a roosting spot for black grouse.
“The loss of nature in a National Landscape, or indeed anywhere, to unauthorised engineering works is always going to be of serious concern,” he said.
A spokesman for Walk Wheel Cycle Trust denied lying in the seller’s pack, explaining that because it did not have the “full facts about the use of the land previously” it was legally required to “put the onus on the buyer to find out the answers”.
She said the planned east-west link for the National Cycle Network, which the Trust runs, was abandoned because it could not use the land to make it “accessible, inclusive and sustainable”.
The charity, she said, has a “legal obligation to sell land for best value”, the sale was “widely advertised” for six weeks, and the organisation “could not have anticipated the actions of the new landowner”.
In Mr Macdonald’s reply to Mr Dobson, he failed to address a request to “reflect” on whether contributing to the “community fundraising effort would better align with your charitable objectives”.
A Cumberland council spokesman said it was “aware of the sensitivity of the site”, was in discussion with the landowner and confirmed a notice to stop works there had been issued.
2026-02-14T17:00:45Z
