by Alice Scarsi
Plans submitted show static holiday homes set to replace touring facilities
A popular caravan and campsite in Poole, Dorset, looks set to be replaced by holiday lodges according to plans submitted to the local council.
The Merley House Lane site, which falls in greenbelt land, has been in used as a touring park since the early 1980s, and provides for a popular choice for many caravanners. Plans for the fully equipped site, which contains a convenience store, entertainment lounge with bar, laundry with washing facilities, sporting facilities, a children’s play area and more, including 160 pitches for camping and caravanning/motorhoming, have been submitted for up to 83 lodges to built, adding to a dozen similar lodges having recently been constructed in the woodlands to the east of the site.
The replacement of such a big recreational space would represent, clearly, an impoverishment of the area, with many businesses looking set to suffer should the plans be approved.
Director of nearby Hitch-N-Pitch, Judith Forsey, whose company supplyies services and equipment to caravanners within the Poole area told the local newspaper, the Daily Echo: “I think it would also be detrimental for the area as a whole. Merley Court is the only touring park in the Borough of Poole.
“By allowing the change of use it will drive away holidaymakers from the town because they have nowhere to go,” Judith continued.
Owners of Merley House Lane, Shorefield Holidays Ltd, subsequently refused to comment on the impact such changes could have to local businesses when contacted by CaravanTimes earlier today, despite acknowledging in their original planning application that the move would reduce the number of visitors to its park.
Consultation over the plan will end 13 February, and the fate of the Merley House Lane site will be decided by early March.
What do you think about the application? Is it worth doing away with touring caravan and camping pitches to replace them with static holiday lodges? Furthermore, would you want to give the new lodges a try?
