Green light recommended for holiday park near popular Mappleton beach despite villagers' pleas over parking making their lives a 'total misery'

Next week councillors are due to discuss plans for 35 touring caravan pitches and 24 camping pods at Sea View Farm, on the outskirts of Mappleton, which has one of the few easily accessible beaches along the crumbling Holderness coastline.

There have been 17 objections as well as from the parish council who say the site is outside the area protected by sea defences, and the main B1242 is rapidly approaching the cliff edge.

They also question the need for another holiday park, given “massive recent expansion” at Cowden holiday park and plans passed for a new touring caravan park near Hornsea and more caravans at Rolston Lakes.

Another concern is for farmers struggling to manoeuvre farm machinery and feed wagons around parked cars, and the fact it would be next to a working pig farm.

The parish council said: "The village of Mappleton is a working village, with many established farms, that have massive machinery, and transport wagons for feed and livestock movements.

"There is no more room for additional traffic, this last year with the Covid-19 crisis has proved this, cars parked all over the village blocking access, and total misery for the residents.

"Add a few lost drivers towing caravans, you then have a perfect scenario for accidents and mayhem."

However planners recommend approval, saying the average erosion rate of 0.88m gives the site another 125 years and issues with “unsafe parking” is a “police matter”.

The developer has agreed to pay for a footpath and says they will provide a shuttle service to the beach and free bicycles to their guests.

The plans involve knocking down all the buildings on the site, except for the farmhouse, and digging a lake on the fields to the north of the site.

An existing farmhouse will be used to manage the tourism business, while 16 “redundant” buildings will be demolished.

The scheme, like others, has been inspired by the increasing demand for staycations amid the Covid-19 restrictions.

Planners at East Riding Council state: "Due to the overall economic benefit of bring the site back in to use, removal of former disused agricultural buildings that appear in a poor state of repair, on the edge of a village with some amenities served by the main coastal road B1242 and easy distance of larger settlements including the coastal town of Hornsea, improved vehicular access into the site together with the retention of existing boundary treatments and additional landscaping, the proposal is acceptable."