New caravan park plans proposed to provide for high end camping
York could see a £3.7 million economic boost after a generous landowner has submitted plans for a 117-pitch caravan park, provide 68 new jobs in the process.
Stephen Otley submitted an outline of planning application to the City of York Council that could turn ten acres of land near a Park & Ride site at Poppleton into a caravan park. The site even has a name already – Wheatlands Wood Touring Park.
In the plans proposed, landowner Otley has split the park into 95 caravan pitches, 10 luxury camping pods for glampers, and 12 tent pitches. Otley wanted to craft the park because he feels there is a demand for “high end” caravanning in York.
He said: “In recent years I have been pleased to notice the growth of touring. The quality of sites has also been rising and a new breed of high super-site has been emerging on the continent.
“Such sites have yet to appear in the UK however, and my plan is bring the first of these super-sites to the UK, here in York,” he went on.
Otley, an avid caravanner himself, hopes to make York flourish as a base destination for caravanners so they can utilise travel through the Park & Ride, Poppleton train station, and cycle routes.
Otley continued: “York’s caravan sites are among the most popular in the UK, according to the Caravan Club of GB, and are often fully booked resulting in people having to go elsewhere.
“At the moment the city is losing tourist business for lack of site capacity.”
Commercial property agency GVA has given figures to Otley claiming the park could create 64,058 ‘staying visitor nights’, which could directly boost York’s economy with visitor spending. The visitors could supply £3.26 million to York’s economy. The figures released by GVA propose 68 jobs could be formed through the park, local transport, retail, and tourism and leisure.
“Furthermore, having invested £60,000 in a new caravan or motorhome, people are now looking for sites on which they can stay which match in terms of quality and facilities.
“Sadly, sites in the UK have not generally kept pace with this and the kind of high-end site that people are looking for can only be widely found on the continent,” Otley said.
“My proposal is to bring one of these European 5-star sites to York, so that the city no longer misses out on this potentially lucrative trade.”
