Villagers oppose plans to build new lodge at coast holiday park

VILLAGERS ARE objecting to plans for a new arrivals lodge at a popular holiday park on Flamborough Head, claiming it is another attempt to encroach onto the Heritage Coast.

The owners of Thornwick Bay holiday village have submitted plans for the “visually discreet” structure, next to a caravan sales area.

Agents for Haven say the siting of the proposed lodge “has been chosen on the basis of its suitability to manage arrivals in a safe and efficient manner – making use of the existing holding lane”.

However Flamborough Residents Association and a dozen other people have written to East Riding Council to object.

The association claims Haven “has been trying to develop to the east” ever since developing a masterplan, which showed future plans for an entertainment complex.

It says planning committee members removed plans for seven static caravans to the east of the current site, before approving the masterplan. The group added: “Since then a yurt was constructed and had to be removed, a climbing wall was applied for and then the application withdrawn and a ranger hut constructed then refused when permission was retrospectively applied for.”

Haven went to appeal over the ranger station, but the decision was upheld by a Government inspector, who ruled it would cause “significant harm” to the character and appearance of the area.

The station, which the association says is only a couple of hundred yards from the proposed arrivals hut, had to be pulled down.

The group said there is a “drip, drip approach to trying to expand east onto the Heritage Coast”.

However agents for Haven insist the lodge’s proposed location is “fundamentally different” from the ranger station as it falls within the existing built-up area.

Some objectors have suggested they use the existing security hut, but the agents say that would be “impractical and unviable”. They say they trialled using it last summer but that led to congestion, because towing caravans and other vehicles had nowhere to park.

The parish council has no objections “recognising the need to provide alternative secure arrival arrangements” in the light of the pandemic. The council’s highways department is also not objecting.

Haven said they introduced a contactless arrivals system in 2020, and the proposed lodge “supports this system to further safeguard the wellbeing of the park and our guests, as well as improving the overall customer experience”. They had made amendments they believe will allay local concerns.

Heritage Coasts were established to conserve the best stretches of undeveloped coast.

Flamborough Headland, one of 32 in England, is best known for its towering 300ft chalk cliffs and huge seabird colony.

The site has been chosen for its suitability to manage arrivals. Agents for Haven, the owners of Thornwick Bay holiday village.