Glamping site’s green belt “up-market” area for campervans rejected by inspector

The owners of York Holiday and Cycle Shop wanted to turn a field used for grazing horses into a 25-pitch mobile caravan park.

City of York Council rejected the application earlier this year, saying it would harm the green belt around the village of Holtby.

The site’s owner Trevor Smith said that, in his 30 years as a businessman, he had learned that “you can’t stand still, you need to keep one eye on the future”.

He added: “That is what we did in 2014 when we diversified into glamping. At that point glamping wasn’t even a term, now it is a part of the English language, and it has been very successful both for us and in terms of bringing the tens of thousands of guests who have stayed with us to York.

“With Covid there has been a massive uptick in motorhoming. We feel the time is right for us to expand into this area to build on and sustain our existing business going forward and again, bring more visitors to the local/York economy.”

In a decision notice released this week, an inspector agreed with the council’s decision.

Paul Martinson wrote: “The proposed development would lead to a significant reduction of openness compared to the existing situation and would conflict with the fundamental aim of keeping land permanently open.

“As a result, I am not convinced that this could be satisfactorily mitigated by the landscaping proposed, which consists primarily of enhancing the existing hedgerow boundaries.”