A proposal to site log cabin-style self-catering holiday lodges and glamping pods in open countryside has been approved after councillors heard it could have a direct economic impact of more than £1m annually.
Hambleton District councillors were told the scheme to change of use of grazing land to create 23 log cabins and four glamping pods at Tame Bridge, near Stokesley, had divided local opinion.
Members heard the plan had won support from dozens of residents and Seamer Parish and Stokesley Town councils on account of the potential economic benefits, but had generated an objection from Hutton Rudby Parish Council, which questioned the need for more holiday lodges in the area.
The latter parish council said the local Angrove Park and Cleveland Hills View holiday parks had 78 unsold plots, while there were dozens more available at other sites in Potto and Great Ayton.
However, an agent for the developers said holiday firm Hoseasons had confirmed it had achieved 100 per cent occupancy levels throughout the summer and beyond for all the holiday sites it was responsible for in the area, and that they were actively turning people away.
An officers’ report to the meeting stated said a study submitted with the application “further demonstrated that the tourism market within North Yorkshire is performing above average and that demand is outstripping supply in the area around the North York Moors”.
Stokesley councillor Andy Wake said following extensive efforts to overcome flooding issues at the site, the proposal would be of “vast benefit to the area’s tourism”.
Ward member Councillor Bridget Fortune said while she supported the proposal in principle another similar scheme had been approved nearby which saw several holiday operators try and fail to make it work as it was not a tourist area.
She added: “Those chalets are now private houses. The people buy them and they are living in them. That is not what it was intended.”
The committee agreed that if the holiday park was not successful it should be returned to green space.
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