Glamping plan to be knocked back over transport worries
PLANS for glamping pods in woodland near Carsington Water are set to be refused due to poor public transport links.
Northampton-based firm Silva Scopa Ltd is behind the plans for 10 glamping pods off Broom Lane between Kirk Ireton and Carsington Water.
However, its plans have been recommended for refusal by Derbyshire Dales District Council planning officers.
A decision was due to be made by councillors late yesterday, after the News Telegraph went to press.
The proposed site, in woodland off a narrow single-track lane, is a former sand and gravel quarry. The glamping pods, if approved, would sit in the base of the former quarry itself.
Included in the plans is a café building, which would also serve as an administration and cleaning base.
Each of the proposed glamping pods would be made out of timber and measure 13.6 metres wide, 12.5 metres long and 4.1 metres in height.
The council’s tree and landscapes officer says the application is acceptable due to there not being any loss in woodland.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has said it needs more detail on any habitats which may be lost and details of bird, insect or animal species which may be affected.
Dales planning officers, recommending refusal of the plans, wrote: “There are no public rights of way or pavements linking the site to the existing public transport modes which are located approximately one mile south-west of the site.
“The application site is not located within, or in close proximity to existing settlements with good connections to the main highway network, public rights of way network and/or cycle ways, and is neither served by public transport or within a safe attractive 10-minute walk of regular public transport services,” the planning officers added.
“In terms of sustainability, it is considered that the creation of new build holiday accommodation, in this otherwise remote and isolated location within the countryside, where visitors are most likely to depend on their own private motor vehicle to visit the site - given the lack of infrastructure available to make the fullest possible use of public transport, walking and cycling route – would constitute an unsustainable form of development which does not promote sustainable rural tourism.”
There are no public rights of way or pavements linking the site to public transport Dales planners