Holiday park wins planning battle
RIVERSIDE Holiday Park will undergo a major redevelopment after its owners won a long-running planning battle.
Harrison Leisure, the owner of the Banks attraction, will now be able to demolish its dated shop and bar and replace them with new shops, a bar and a restaurant.
The decision comes two years after the application was first lodged, with Harrison Leisure taking the matter to the government’s Planning Inspectorate when West Lancashire Borough Council failed to make a decision within the required time.
As well as granting permission for the redevelopment, the inspectorate ordered the council to pay the applicant’s costs of going through the appeal process.
Now, Harrison Leisure can press ahead with its
plans and demolish the existing buildings, which it described in its original application as being indsutrial and utilitarian.
In its place, an L-shaped building will be erected and will house a bar lounge, which is planned to become the focal point of the development, along with an improved food store, restaurant and shop units which could be filled by such businesses as an ice cream parlour, beautician, and a caravan accessory shop.
Explaining the need for the upgrade, the application states: “The buildings on the site that will be demolished are significant in scale, utilitarian in appearance; no longer fit for purpose; and incongruous in appearance to the image that a modern caravan park would want to present.
“The buildings have an appearance more reminiscent of an industrial or warehousing type use.
“The cluster of buildings are positioned such that they are the first buildings that visitors to the site see on arrival. In contrast the proposal is for a well-designed development centred around the sides of a central parking area which serves to ensure convenient and easy access for the customer.
New landscaping will take place around the outer perimeter of the development.”
Riverside employs about 50 people and is home to up to 1,000 occupied static caravans and 250 touring caravans at its peak. A DOG trainer and her pony are trekking 250 miles from Southport to Hornsea to raise funds for Macmillan, which has supported her family through her dad’s cancer ordeal.
Sarah Bartlett took on the challenge after her dad, Steve Roper, was told the kidney cancer he was diagnosed with just a few months ago had spread.
Sarah, who is originally from Thurgoland, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, but now lives in Worcestershire, said: “I lost my step-father to cancer, my mum has also beaten breast cancer and now my dad has cancer. Macmillan has been there for all of us throughout.
“Macmillan doesn’t receive any government funding and relies on donations to help support its services and I just want to give something back for everything they have done and continue to do for my family.”
Sarah is riding her fell pony, Billy,the length of the Trans Pennine Trail from coast-to-coast, starting in Southport last Friday and aiming to finish nine days later in Hornsea.
Her dad, Steve, a haulier from Thurgoland, said: “I’m majorly proud of Sarah and what she’s about to do, but it came as a major surprise.
“I had no idea what she was planning until she asked whether she could stay here the night before she set off.
“I’m so proud because Macmillan has been very supportive of both me and my family. They have been so helpful.”
Steve, whose passion is renovating vintage lorries, plans to spend the rest of the summer with his wife, Karen, travelling in his 1959 lorry to vintage and commercial shows.
He added: “I’ve converted the 1959 lorry into a motorhome and we have other vintage lorries we’ve converted, that my three sons will bring along as well, so we have lots of quality family time planned.”
Sarah hopes to raise more than £5,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support. To support her, go to www.justgiving. com/fundraising/ fellfromcoasttocoast.