Plans lodged for 58-space car park extension at Northumberland beauty spot

A planning application for an additional 58 car parking spaces within woodland at Sweethope Loughs, near Kirkwhelpington, has been submitted to Northumberland County Council.

The land is part of the Ray Estate owned by Viscount Devonport since 1965.

A planning report on the applicant’s behalf explains how the existing 40-space car park associated with the fishing use for Sweethope Loughs is no longer big enough to meet demand.

“The proposed additional car parking will serve the use associated with the outdoor wild swimming facility which has increased significantly since it was introduced recently at Sweethope Lough,” states the report.

“The present car park serving the fishing is inadequate to serve both uses or any other future tourist activities.”

Numerous trees within the proposed car parking area were lost in recent winter storms and have now generally been cleared.

In the 17th and 18th century much of the northern part of the estate was owned by the Duke of Northumberland while the southern third was part of Wallington Estate.

It was Sir Walter Blackett in 1730 who built the first lake at Sweethope to power the cornmill.

The estate in its present format was assembled by the Stobart family around 1830.

In 1905 Sir Charles Parsons, the inventor of the steam turbine, purchased the estate. His daughter, Rachel Parsons, gave the estate up to the Land Commission in 1947.

In 1954, the agricultural elements of the estate were offered for sale by the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Trustees of the First Viscount Devonport purchased the estate.