By William Coleman
As sites start to spring up all over the UK we are seeing a lot spaces filling up with caravans, motorhomes and glamping accommodations. For me this is a good thing but there are some who think that they may start to impact too many green spaces and potentially cause safety issues.
Plans for a brand new caravan site that would be home to 30 pitches in the green belt has been blocked, only just, thus stopping another site from being available to the public.
It would seem that residents and local counselors took exception to the addition of a new site at the Little Intake Farm at Woodhead Road in Grenoside. It was stated, and agreed upon, that the new 30 van site with camping space would ruin the woodland and would add danger to the already busy 60mph road.
There was a very small margin between the site being approved and not approved. Six councillors voted against, four were happy with it and two abstained. So there was a camel’s hair between the area getting a new site and all the tourist money that would bring with it.
Helen Jackson, former Sheffield Hillsborough MP, was on the opposition team who was very much not in favour of the new site being erected.
Mrs Jackson said: “I have lived here for 45 years and the site is used by a large amount of people for leisure and pleasure at weekends and holidays.
“The woodlands have been well managed and are used by cyclists, dog walkers, ornithologists and ecologists and because of the nature of the open woodland they need very careful planning consideration.
“It’s a swamp at the moment and totally unfit for camping because of the heavy rain. We want the natural landscape to be enjoyed and 30 caravans with all the amenities required is inappropriate.”
One member who was in favour of the new site was Mark Lloyd who has said that tourism bodies were backing site: “The road is very straight with unrestricted visibility and the site is more than adequate for campsite traffic.
“There is an acute need for this sort of facility in the north of the city as other sites are too small.”
The comments against the site did not stop there though. Coun Peter Price disagreed with this and said: “I recognise the importance of camping, particularly in the north of the city, but this car park is always busy and it’s a difficult turn. This will be a scar and spoil the landscape and we should be encouraging other sites.”
Coun Tony Damms added: “It’s going to be a very dangerous situation. We have speed restrictions which need to be enforced but we’re not sure there’s the capacity to monitor that. This area is quite a well used, visibility is restricted and you have cars haring around the bend.”
There are some clear concersn as to why there should not be a new site developed at this location. But, caravan and motorhome drivers are some of the safest drivers on the streets and would pose little to no issues on the 60mph road. All you would need to do is reduce to speed on the road and the majority of the issues are now gone.
