Appeal over Flintshire caravan park expansion thrown out

An appeal over the refusal of plans by a holiday park near Holywell to relocate almost 30 touring caravan pitches to a neighbouring field has been thrown out.

It follows concerns being raised over the impact the proposals by the owner of the Misty Waters Caravan Park in Lloc would have on the surrounding countryside.

Peter Barlow applied to Flintshire Council in January 2023 to move 29 touring caravan pitches to a field next to the site located off the A55.

It came after he was previously granted permission to create pitches for static caravans in their place in 2021.

Mr Barlow said moving the touring pitches to an adjacent field would help to meet a growing demand for tourist accommodation in the area.

However, an appeal was lodged with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales in August last year due to the local authority’s failure to make a decision on the application.

An inspector appointed to oversee the case has now dismissed the appeal due to the site being located in the open countryside.

In her report, Nia Jones said: “I consider the main issue to be whether the proposal would comply with development plan policy limiting caravan site development in the open countryside.

“The council confirms that the appeal site is located outside any settlement boundary and is in an open countryside location for the purposes of planning policies.

“I saw that the proposal would not appear uncharacteristic when seen in short-range views from the public right of way (PROW) crossing the caravan park given that it would be located in an area where caravans are already clearly present on the wider site.

“However, whilst the appellant contends the recreation field is already fully screened with trees, hedgerows and planting, I saw that the appeal site and existing caravans are clearly visible viewed on the PROW.

“Consequently, the appeal proposal would not be a modest extension in proportion to the existing caravan park but would visibly and harmfully extend an already prominent and noticeable feature into an unscreened open landscape.”

In the initial plans put forward to the council, Mr Barlow said the caravan park was experiencing a large demand for touring pitches.

He said this was due to an increase in people choosing to take breaks in the UK following the Covid pandemic.

However, Ms Jones said the negative impact of the scheme meant the appeal should be dismissed.

She said: “I give appreciable weight to the benefits of the scheme to the wider local economy, including through employment, as well as to the tourists who would use the site.

“However, these matters, even taken together, do not outweigh the harm I have identified in relation to the proposal’s conflict with LDP policy.

“For the reasons given above and having taken all matters into account, I conclude that the appeal should be dismissed.”

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter (more here).