Plans for a new doctors’ surgery in a Lake District village without a full-time GP have been abandoned after concerns that patients could be hit by cricket balls.
Residents of Coniston launched a social media video showcasing the village’s spectacular scenery in an effort to attract a replacement doctor after their GP retired last year.
But the campaign failed to produce a single applicant, leaving the village’s 845 residents reliant on temporary medical cover for three days a week in a basement accessed by a flight of stairs.
Hoping to make the position more appealing, community-minded businessman Phil Johnston proposed building a new surgery on land he owns in the village.
However, planners at the Lake District National Park Authority have recommended rejecting the scheme over health and safety concerns. The proposed site is next to Coniston Cricket Club, where batsmen could hit balls high enough to endanger patients.
Mr Johnston, 73, had already spent £10,000 on the planning application, including £2,500 for an assessment of the risk posed by cricket balls. He is now withdrawing the proposal in frustration.
“I have had enough,” he said.
“I was only doing it for the village as an act of kindness. There was nothing in it for me.
Coniston cricket ground in the Lake District, where fears over powerful sixes have halted plans for a much-needed new surgery on neighbouring land
Businessman Phil Johnston, pictured beside an historic water wheel he restored, proposed the surgery as “an act of kindness” but now says he has “had enough”
“I am not throwing any more money at it. I don’t want the aggro at my age.
“If they don’t want a new doctors’ surgery and two new houses, that’s up to them.”
Coniston had a dedicated family doctor for 170 years before facing the possible closure of its practice last year. A recruitment video highlighting the village’s beautiful setting, seven pubs and a brewery failed to attract a single GP.
Nearly one in three residents is aged over 65. Without local provision, they would have faced an hour-long round trip by car to the nearest full-time surgery in Ulverston, while travelling by bus would have taken twice as long.
As a temporary measure, another Lake District practice opened a branch surgery in the basement of a village house, offering appointments three days a week.
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Mr Johnston’s proposal for a dedicated, privately funded surgery was backed by the local parish council. He owns a portfolio of holiday cottages in the area.
The outline planning application included the surgery and two apartments intended for local occupancy.
Only two objections were submitted. One resident argued that an existing building should be converted, while the other came from the village cricket club.
In 2025, Coniston residents launched a social media campaign in an unsuccessful bid to attract a new full-time GP to the village
Sport England, commenting on behalf of the cricket club, told planners that a protective fence as high as 46ft (14m) would need to be built around the surgery site to shield it from balls hit for six.
As the ‘issue of ball strike’ had not been ‘fully resolved’, granting consent ‘could therefore still have a prejudicial impact on the sporting use of adjacent cricket club’, its planning consultant reported.
In her report to the Lake District National Park Authority, planner Emma Kearsey highlighted the club’s concern that ‘a well-hit cricket ball travelling beyond the boundaries of the ground’ risked ‘serious injury to people accessing the surgery and flats above’, as well as potentially damaging the building and vehicles.
‘In their view the normal use of the cricket ground would have to be changed to prevent these risks,’ she added.
While the site was otherwise suitable for a surgery or homes, she recommended refusal of consent due to the risk of creating ‘unreasonable restrictions’ on local cricketers.
A committee was due to vote on the application next month, but Mr Johnston has now withdrawn it.
‘The sad thing is that this was never about making money,’ he said today.
‘I saw it as an altruistic venture.
‘I have nothing whatsoever against the village cricket club, in fact I’m one of the team’s sponsors.
‘It just makes no sense. I’ve owned this land for 15 years and no-one’s ever found a cricket ball that had been hit onto it.’
South Cumbria Integrated Care Board has said GP services will continue from their current location in the basement of Wraysdale House until an alternative can be developed.