A LANDOWNER has revealed plans for a new 117-pitch caravan park, which he says will deliver a £3.7 million boost for York and provide 68 new jobs.

Stephen Otley has submitted an outline planning application to City of York Council to transform 10 acres of land, currently leased for farming, near the Park&Ride site at Poppleton.

The site, which lies next to Minster Vets in North Field Lane, will be named Wheatlands Wood Touring Park, and is set to be split into 95 caravan pitches, 10 luxury camping pods and 12 tent pitches as Mr Otley aims to meet a demand in the market for "high end" caravan holidaying in York.

He said: "I've lived in York all my life and am also a keen tourer, travelling extensively in the UK and Europe.

"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."

York Press: December: St Helen’s Square by John Saunders

Mr Otley says his plan would lead to more tourists visiting the centre of York

Mr Otley says he wants to make York the leader in a "burgeoning" caravan market, with his site providing an "ideal base" for transport links through the Park & Ride, Poppleton train station, and cycle routes into the city.

He has obtained figures from commercial property agency GVA, which show the park would generate an additional 64,058 staying visitor nights for York's economy, which would in turn contribute to a £3.26 million direct economic boost through visitor spend and park spend, as well as indirect spending of £506,699.

The figures suggest 68 new permanent full-time equivalent jobs could be created, made up of 4.2 on the site, 52.5 in local transport, retail, tourism and leisure from direct visitor spending, and 11.3 through indirect spending.

Mr Otley said: "This is an exciting project for the city with many benefits for the tourist and wider economy.

"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.

"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.

"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."