A - A Brief Description of Arnside Parish
A. A Brief Description of Arnside Parish
The civil parish of Arnside encompasses a stretch of ‘coastline’ which is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, as well as significant areas of open countryside, woodland and moss, including some National Trust land. The village of Arnside itself is quite compact and is situated on the estuary of the River Kent, at the point where the Furness railway line crosses the river. Historically, it owes its rapid growth over some 150 years to the arrival of the railway in 1857. The small, physically separate (and older) settlement on the other side of Arnside Knott, Far Arnside, has two largish caravan parks. A small number of farms are situated outside the settlements.
With a population of around 2250, Arnside is the most populous parish in the Cumbria section of the Arnside-Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, whose headquarters it currently houses. Arnside is included, with nine other parishes, in Cumbria County Council’s Kent Estuary Forum, and is involved in the Morecambe Bay Partnership. At a recent conference of the latter, it emerged that Arnside is the third most popular place to visit around the Bay as a whole – its daily tidal bore is well known, and each summer it is the starting-point for some 30 of the famous ‘Cross-Bay’ walks led by the Queen’s Guide.
In these respects, despite a certain kind of geographical isolation, Arnside is not typical of rural parishes, having more residents, more visitors and better facilities. It is also a matter of historical fact that, administratively, the Parish Council (which has eleven members) has taken on rather more responsibilities than in similar parishes – e.g. for certain garden areas and the cemetery.
The Parish has a decent range of shops for its size, a post office, its own award-winning primary school, GP and dental surgeries, a branch library, a much-used Women’s Institute/Village Hall, an equally-heavily-used Educational Institute, two pubs and three churches. It lost its last bank a few years ago.
Only a relatively small proportion of those in work are actually employed in the village, which has an unusually high percentage of retired residents and a particularly high number in the 60-85 age-bracket.
The level of social, recreational and sporting activity is high, and the range of clubs and societies in the Parish considerable. A monthly Broadsheet is particularly important for conveying information about these to residents.
Major perceived problems include parking, traffic circulation, certain inadequacies relating to transport systems, ensuring that planning decisions preserve the character of the Parish and its landscape, and lack of workspaces and work-opportunities for younger people.
