Council refuses ‘intrusive and harmful’ plan for new holiday chalets on Whitby coast

A plan seeking to build eight “log-cabin-style” holiday chalets in Sandsend near Whitby has been refused as the council said they would have an “adverse impact on the character of the countryside”.

The plan proposed that the rectangular cabins be sited at the “very extensive” caravan site at Sandfield House Farm which is located within the open countryside between Whitby and Sandsend and within the North York Moors National Park.

Sandfield House Caravan Park initially requested permission for 10 “glamping pods” and 17 log-cabin holiday chalets but this was reduced to eight chalets in three different sizes.

The largest of the proposed cabins would have been 13 metres by 6m and would have been 3 metres high with a “log-cabin appearance” due to timber boarding.

Planning officers said that the proposed development raised “no technical concerns in relation to highway safety, noise or impact on amenity, and subject to conditions, would not harm ecological interests”.

However, they said that the “sole concerns relate to the intrusive nature of the development that would be harmful in the landscape of the open countryside and undeveloped coastline”.

More than a dozen letters of objection were received by the council, covering a broad range of concerns including the scheme’s impact on the countryside, the coastline, and wildlife.

Four letters were also received in support of the scheme, with one stating that the development would allow the business “to grow and employ more local people” and stated that “a business willing to expand in time of recession and high cost-of-living deserves to prosper”.

The planning authority said that the proposal would “fundamentally change the character of this currently unobtrusive site within the open countryside and undeveloped coastline that is currently barely noticeable within public views”.

Officers added that replacing the current scenery with a “highly prominent development of log cabins” would become intrusive features within the open rural landscape.

Planning officers recommended refusal of the scheme and North Yorkshire rejected the application on Wednesday, July 26