AN ESCRICK holiday park has got the go-ahead to expand, despite hundreds of objections and a campaign by the Woodland Trust against the scheme.

Escrick estate has been granted planning permission to convert six hectares of woodland into an extended Hollicarrs holiday park with 41 new caravans or lodges, while setting aside another hectare closer to the A19 and installing three caravans to act as a classroom and cafe for Hagge Woods Trust.

The scheme was given permission at a Selby District Council planning meeting on Wednesday, when councillors heard that many of the 800 objections came through a coordinated online campaign by the Woodland Trust.

Planning official Andrew Watson told the committee the objections came from all over the country, but that the land to be used as a holiday park does not actually include any ancient woodland.

“Ancient woodland surrounds the site but is not on the site,” he said.

However, one resident told the meeting he believed the Hagge Wood facilities were a “smokescreen” for the wider bid to expand the holiday park at the expense of historic trees.

A report prepared for the committee also shows the Woodland Trust still opposed the scheme, even after boundaries had been changed to avoid the designated ancient woodland.

The trust was unhappy that six hectares of Hollicarrs Wood - itself a designated Site of Interest for Nature Conservation - would be lost, while the areas of ancient woodland will be split up.

“It will fragment areas of Ancient Woodland from each other and this together with the holiday park will heavily impact on the wider network of the Ancient Woodland,” the document said.

However the planning committee voted unanimously to grant permission, and Cllr John Deans, whose Derwent ward covers the area, said the land covered is a commercial plantation, adding that local organisation Hagge Woods Trust stands to gain from the development with a new schoolroom for its visitors.

On top of that, the site will be well screened and not visible from the A19, Cllr Deans added, and the holiday development will be good for the area.

An initial application for a larger extension with 67 lodges was scaled back to 41 lodges before the planning decision was made.