Celebrations from campaigners as plan for holiday village in nature reserve on the Humber is withdrawn

A scheme for a holiday village in a nature reserve attracted hundreds of scathing comments.

The former owners of the Humber Bridge Hotel proposed 19 wooden lodges on a nearby site in the Far Ings Nature Reserve.

At the end of the consultation process, around 830 comments – which were almost entirely negative – had been sent to North Lincolnshire Council’s planning portal.

The application had been described as a “tragic development” for the nature reserve. The Site of Special Scientific Interest which borders the proposed scheme has a rich variety of wildlife and flowers, including breeding populations of rare birds.

A company run by Tom Hazeldine, one of the hotel’s previous owners, submitted the application just weeks after bailiffs were called to the Barton hotel over large debts.

The hundreds of objections dwarf even those usually attracted by unpopular housing developments.

The plans have now been withdrawn by the applicant.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, which helped draw attention to the proposal, posted on Facebook: “We wanted to let you know that the potentially damaging planning application at Far Ings has been withdrawn.

“We will continue to monitor the situation but wanted to thank everyone who took the time to comment on the application and stand up for nature. Together we made a difference.”

The plans would also have seen a new access road and 38-space car park created on the edge of the SSSI.

Objections from wildlife experts and lovers warned of the devastating impact the development would have had.

“The UK is losing more and more of it’s natural habitat and this particular area is well know for it’s importance to wildlife including rare species. This would be a tragic development for so many reasons,” one said.

Another warned: “A development such as this would cause untold damage to the wildlife in the vicinity. There are no shops or other facilities nearby which would result in many vehicle movements which would disturb precious species.

“A holiday park and an SSSI do not marry well together. The site has also been inundated in the very recent past so flooding is a significant risk.”