National Trust tries to allay fears over Belton House plans

The National Trust has tried to allay concerns after new plans were submitted to resurface a mile-long drive at Belton House.

The trust has resubmitted plans for resurfacing its car park and the south drive after it pulled the plug on plans to use the Lion Gates, off Belton Lane, as a new entrance to the house as part of a one-way system through the grounds.

The new plans have been criticised by some objectors who believe a newly ‘tarmaced’ drive will ruin the look of the Grade 1 listed deer park.

Paul Martin, who set up the Facebook page GranthamSays.BeltonHouse, said: “The South Avenue which leads from the property all the way to the Lion Gates is going to be completely overhauled with what seems to be a tarmac top layer. Great for cars, not so great for the aesthetics of a Grade 1 listed Deer park.

“I will be putting forward my own objections to this as I love the deer park and this isn't in keeping with what you would expect.”

Mr Martin says he has contacted Belton House manager Ian Cooper and will be updating the group with his response. He added: “I have also thanked Mr Cooper for listening to the concerns of residents in regard to pollution, congestion and the impact on our town.”

County councillor for the area, Councillor Linda Wootten, has also sought reassurances from Mr Cooper over the plans.

She said that she has received assurances that there is no intention in getting the plans approved and the work done to retrospectively seek permission to use the Lion Gates as an entrance in the future, although there are a couple times a year, one being the Christmas lights festival, where traffic exits through the Lion Gates to ease delay and congestion at the Belton village end.

Coun Wootten added: “I do believe Mr Cooper to be a man of his word, and I am sure he has proved his integrity by listening to the community in the past, whereby the public were once again given access to the Lion Gate entrance to walk through the park or exercise their dogs."

Mr Cooper confirmed that the plans still included the resurfacing of the south drive “so that we will be able to use it occasionally as an exit on event days and on our busiest days of the year as we have done previously for many years. This will mainly be for our light trail evenings and on the odd day over Easter.”

Mr Cooper added: “As you will be aware the only reason we stopped using it over the past two years is because the surface became unusable. However the intention is to chip and spray the surface with the same stone that currently sits on the drive so it should look very similar.”

Mr Cooper also confirmed that there were no plans to use the Lion Gates as an entrance. He said: “I'd like to take the opportunity to absolutely confirm this is not our intention at all. We have taken all elements required by planning to use it as an entrance out of the current planning submission.

“This includes any work that was originally proposed outside the gates themselves to provide an entrance, along with any proposals to improve the visibility required by reducing the spinney. By removing those elements from the proposal there would be no option available for us to use the Lion Gates as an entrance.

“I hope that helps reassure those with concerns although I'd reiterate that as I put at the start of this process I would welcome any direct queries particularly from those commenting on social media so that I can help allay any questions they have.”

The resubmitted plans also include a new parking layout with electric vehicle charging points, hard and soft landscaping, the installation of new fences and railings, construction of two new ticket kiosks, and the alteration of the existing visitor reception building to provide a changing places WC and covered storage for mobility buggies.

The entrance and exit at Belton House will remain at the Belton village side of the grounds.