Holiday park extension approved despite villagers saying they are overwhelmed by caravans

Alexandra Wood
By Alexandra Wood

Senior reporter

Published 17th Aug 2024, 06:00 BST
Councillors have approved another extension to a holiday park near the tiny coastal village of Tunstall, despite parish council objections.

Holderness Country Park, over the road from the much bigger Sand Le Mere development, was granted planning permission for 40 caravans and an office and reception – bringing the total to 102.

It started off life in 2005 with 36 units as a farm diversification scheme.

Agent of applicant David Grayson told a meeting at County Hall the park “took a lot of hard work and investment to get going just under 20 years ago and is now a successful tourism business.

The site is opposite the massive Sand Le Mere developmentThe site is opposite the massive Sand Le Mere development
The site is opposite the massive Sand Le Mere development

"Mr Grayson’s son now runs Holderness Country Park alongside his Dad – it provides valuable diversification and supplementary income to the farm.”

She said the extension had a footpath connecting to Roos, where there was a village shop, butcher’s and two pubs, which would be supported by the extra visitors.

There was no representative from Tunstall at the meeting, but Roos parish council wrote saying it would have a “severe negative” impact on the character of the area, and Tunstall was a “very small hamlet with limited amenities”.

There were three other applications for more caravans and councillors were urged to reject them all as “way too excessive proposals...potentially ruining the character and appearance of the hamlet of Tunstall”.

A single objector wrote in to say the last extension at Sand Le Mere was almost complete and the increase in traffic on the single lane track serving the sites had been noticeable.

The objector said: “I can find no comparative sites with the same number of caravans served by such a narrow road with its blind bends and lack of sufficient passing places”.

Lib Dem councillor Thomas Robson admitted that he hated caravans “but that wasn’t a reasonable planning objection”.

He said the parish council’s objections were “rather weak” and insufficiently strong to overturn the application.

Councillors voted to defer and delegate the application to officers for approval subject to securing legal agreements.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​