Legal notice move over caravan park

Feb 2 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

A HOLIDAY company has been served with a formal legal notice by council planning watchdogs after starting work too soon on a controversial £5m caravan park expansion in a Northumberland seaside village.

Northumbrian Leisure, which operates the Golden Sands park in tiny Cresswell, near Druridge Bay, has been given 28 days to fully comply with a set of planning conditions relating to the expansion scheme, or face seeing the work brought to a halt.

Castle Morpeth Borough Council has issued the company with a breach of conditions notice following eight months of complaints by villagers and parish councillors that work was under way on the scheme in contravention of the planning consent.

The order was served last week after Northumbrian Leisure failed to heed a final warning that it was carrying out work at the park in breach of the agreed approval.

It is the latest twist in a saga dating back several years, which has seen Cresswell residents battling against the company’s plans for a major expansion of the park – claiming they are already swamped by caravans and their occupants on the village’s two large holiday sites.

In March last year, following a public inquiry, planning inspector Keith Durrant overruled local residents’ protests and approved an application to add a further 350 caravans and major new leisure facilities at Golden Sands.

He imposed 10 key safeguards, which Northumbrian Leisure was required to comply with before starting work on the expansion, in a bid to protect the local environment and community from unnecessary disruption.

Since May, Cresswell Parish Council has been writing to Castle Morpeth claiming that work had begun on the project in breach of the conditions. Allegations have centred on trees being cut down without protective fencing being erected, the lack of a required archeological investigation of the site and the failure to submit a phasing scheme for the work. Northumbrian Leisure was sent a warning letter about unauthorised tree felling as far back as May. However, it is only within the last few weeks that borough planning chiefs have taken formal legal action after it was confirmed that work had started on site in advance of any of the 10 conditions being complied with.

Yesterday Cresswell parish councillor Dr Phil Kirkwood, one of the leading campaigners against further holiday park development in the 88-home hamlet, accused the council of dragging its feet on the matter.

“Local people fail to understand why it has taken them so long to take appropriate action. It is absolutely disgraceful.”

Tony Woodcock, agent for Northumbrian Leisure boss Nigel Thompson, admitted that work had started before the company had fully complied with the conditions. This was because extra caravan pitches had to be available for letting in time for the new holiday season. “We have now supplied all of the information required to comply with the 10 conditions.

“This has involved the county council highways and archaeological staff and has been further complicated by a borough council planning officer being away for five weeks,” he added.