Scarborough Council approves conversion of former Hunmanby care home into large holiday let

Hazelgarth Lodge, Hunmanby, will be turned into holiday lets.

The former Hazelgarth Lodge care home at Stonegate, will be converted into a holiday let aimed at large family groups.

The applicant, Insight Holiday Lets Ltd, is a Leeds-based provider of holiday homes across the country and this is the company’s sixth property in the area.

The owners also run The Insight Group, a Scarborough-based property management group.

The currently empty care home has 12 bedrooms on the ground floor as well as four bedroomed maisonettes on the first and second floors.

Plans state that the house is intended for use by people who will rent the whole property and single rooms will not be available.

The applicant has stated that “the target market is multi-generational family holidays where grandparents, parents, and children stay together for either a family celebration or simply a family holiday.”

Hunmanby Parish Council and a member of the public objected to the plans.

However, neither Scarborough Council’s health teams nor the Highway Authority raised any objections, and one member of the public also wrote a letter of support for the plans.

Hunmanby Parish Council said it “strongly objects to this change of use” and instead called for the property to be converted into flats “or the land used for infill housing”.

The parish council said: “The local plan defines the village of Hunmanby as a service village and therefore, this application for tourism is not welcome.”

The objecting member of the public said: “The village already has several empty houses, holiday and second homes, these only benefit the owners and not permanent residents of the village.”

However, the letter in support of the plan said the conversion could bring economic benefits to local businesses: “People on holiday spend good amounts of money in the village… These groups really do help support the local shops, cafes, public houses, and attractions.”

The plan was approved on Thursday, December 22 subject to a condition that the property “shall not be used as the main residence of any occupant or as a house in multiple occupation.”