Holiday village scheme attacked

PROPOSALS to create a luxury holiday village on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park have come under fire from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

Halton Homes wants to build the 80m scheme, including two golf courses and a swimming pool complex, on a 100-acre site at Hellifield, near Settle.

But the CPRE, the campaigning charity which aims to protect the landscapes and sustain the communities of rural England, has condemned the proposed scheme between Hellifield and Long Preston, branding it “very bad news for Yorkshire”.

The vice chairman of CPRE Craven, Peter Rigby, claimed the development would “create urban sprawl” and cause “immense damage” to the bio-diversity of fields.

Last month, the Yorkshire Post reported how the scheme had secured the backing of the region’s tourist body.

The chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, Gary Verity, hailed the proposed scheme as a “fantastic development” which would bring both UK and international tourists to Yorkshire.

But Mr Rigby said: “The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) disagrees with Mr Verity and indeed considers that it would be very bad news for Yorkshire.

“We suggest that the chief executive visits this 200-acre greenfield site, as did our own chief executive on August 3 who made the journey from London, to specifically see the huge damage that this proposed development would create at the very edge of the Dales National Park.

“Not only would this development create urban sprawl and the effective connection of two different villages, but also immense damage to the bio-diversity of these fields, not to mention the loss of food-producing land.”

The Bingley-based developer behind the holiday village has claimed the scheme could bring up to 1,500 jobs. If its bid is successful, it is estimated it would create up to 1,000 jobs in construction and, once built, at least 500 full-time jobs.

But the CPRE has challenged the predicted number of new positions which the holiday village could bring to the area.

Mr Rigby said: “The creation of 1,500 jobs should also be questioned by Mr Verity.

“If it were even as much as 10 per cent of this number we would be surprised, and most of those would be ‘seasonal’ in an area where there is little or no unemployment, the whole of Craven being less than one per cent.

“If Welcome to Yorkshire is in the business of job creation then it should be encouraging the construction of holiday villages on brownfield sites of which there are many in Yorkshire, and where the local people would be delighted to see some new job opportunities.

“There are not many voices in Long Preston and Hellifield calling for their green pastures to be developed.”

The proposed scheme, which has yet to be submitted for planning approval, includes a 100-bed hotel, holiday cottages, bars and restaurants, conference centre and tennis courts.

Halton Homes has said that it hopes to submit a planning application this year.

The firm has said that it will have a preference for local labour and that it was hoping to be “embraced by the area”.

It has also said that it hoped at least a quarter of the 80m it anticipated spending within the site on the construction phase would be awarded to local contractors.

Mr Rigby said: “This is slap bang on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We are lobbying the national park authority.

“We would like them to object to any development in these fields if an application is submitted. The residents of Hellifield and Long Preston are very unhappy about the whole thing.”