Villagers upset after planning inspector overturns refusal of campsite off the A165 to Bridlington

Villagers fear they will be “outnumbered” after a planning inspector allowed an appeal by a couple wanting to open a campsite in a rural village just off the A165 to Bridlington.
The campsite will be off Main Street in Lissett. Photo courtesy of Google MapsThe campsite will be off Main Street in Lissett. Photo courtesy of Google Maps
The campsite will be off Main Street in Lissett. Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Councillors refused the plans at Mount Farm last year after hearing it would “overwhelm” the hamlet of Lissett.

But inspector Paul Martinson has now given the go ahead to plans for eight touring caravan, eight tent pitches and six camping pods as well as an amenities building on a paddock off Fisher Lane.

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Parish council chair Gloria Daly said she was thinking of selling up.

She said two properties face the site and six semis back onto it, adding: “It has divided the village, two or three said OK, but the rest of us are quite upset.

“I think what upsets me most is that people so remote can decide on the outcome of our lives, when local councillors say ‘no’ it’s a hamlet, it is totally wrong.

“It’s a quiet village and we are going to be outnumbered. There are more pitches than houses this side of the A165. It’s very close by, not a field away, or an acre away, it’s across the road.

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“We are going to get the smell of cooking, the noise of the radio, people talking on the site – it will ruin our lives because it is going to be open from February to November.”

Pat Wilson, whose garden is adjacent to the site, said the decision makers hadn’t taken into account the people “actually living here”.

Mrs Wilson said it would destroy their “privacy and peace of mind to sit in their garden and enjoy it” and questioned why another campsite was needed on top of the 30 or so already within a 10-mile radius.

She said: “Why was it necessary to grant approval for yet another campsite which backs on to residential properties in a village of approximately 40 houses?

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“Lissett has no amenities whatsover so anyone coming to stay at a campsite will have to go out daily for entertainment, shopping etc.”

The plans attracted over 65 letters of objection.

In his report planning inspector Paul Martinson said the tents and tourers would be “highly seasonal” and while the six camping pods might be occupied for longer, they were only a “small proportion” of the total number of units.

Mr Martinson said with landscaping, a buffer in the form of a paddock between the back of the Main Street properties and the scale of the site, he was satisfied the noise levels wouldn’t be “unacceptable”.

He also cited support in the council’s planning blueprint, the Local Plan, for new caravan sites in the countryside, provided their scale and cumulative impact is appropriate.

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Applicant Peter Goodwin told councillors last June there was little local provision for camping and caravanning.

He said: “We decided it would be great to open a new campsite that allowed people to enjoy the rural side of the East Riding.”

Planning consultant Gemma Fretwell, who represented the Goodwins, said only 30% of applications were allowed at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate nationally, following a “very rigorous assessment by a fully qualified planning professional”.

While it was important for people to have the right to object “it is also just as important for applicants to have the right to appeal,” she said.