Caravan park extension up for approval despite 100 signature petition

Plans for more than 200 extra caravans in Mablethorpe will be given the go-ahead next week, despite objections and a more than 100 signature petition.

East Lindsey District Council’s planning committee will be asked to approve the extension to Mermaid Caravan Park on Seaholme Road.

However, objectors say the plans will create a number of issues.

They include the Mablethorpe Town Council whose issues include the ‘overbearing nature of the application’, the impact on traffic, an increase in crime and the visual impact of the site.

Almost 34 letters of objection were initially submitted, with a further 19 sent after the plans were amended. A 104 signature petition was also received by the council.

Residents also listed the loss of agricultural land, the impact on local services, the number of caravans already in the area and fears over flooding among their concerns.

Ward member Councillor Tony Howard said that seeing a business look to expand was “always a good sign and generally to be welcomed”.

However, he warned: “That does not mean that the developer has everything correct in every detail and unfortunately on this occasion there are numerous flaws in the plans as presented.”

Reiterating a number of residents’ concerns, he said: “This could have been an exemplar application, the many opportunities a development of this scale provide to bring benefit to the area, the owners, to residents and the town as a whole have been missed.

“In its present format this development should not be allowed to progress.”

How Mermaid Caravan Park’s extension would be laid out.

The plans will include an extension to the site’s internal road system, extra car parking spaces and extra landscaping.

Initial plans to close a public footpath to the east of the site were later taken out of the plans and instead a diverted route created.

Objections include the impact on the wider landscape, impact on neighbouring residential properties, how the public footpath is incorporated into the development, the suitability of the highway network and drainage implications.

In a report before councillors, officers said council policies supported new and extended caravan sites in the coastal area.

They said that all issues were “considered acceptable, or can be made acceptable through use of conditions”.

“In addition, all matters raised by third parties have been considered but individually or cumulatively the issues raised do not constitute grounds for refusal,” said the report.

“The application is considered to be policy compliant and is therefore recommended for conditional approval. “