THE owners of a holiday park near Selby are hoping for a visitor boost as they launch a bid to revamp its facilities.

Proposals to demolish eight cottages and replace them with nine modern holiday homes at Cawood Park have been handed in to planners – with extra measures to keep guests safe as they leave and enter the site forming part of the scheme.

The buildings which are targeted for the bulldozers have been marked out as being outdated and in need of a major refurbishment programme to bring them up to scratch. This has led to the park’s owners drawing up a new blueprint to make the most of its lakeside location.

If the plans are approved, the cottages – dating back to the 1960s and 1970s – would make way for a string of “up-to-date” caravans.

The work also involves closing off an entrance to the park from the busy B1223 Ryther Road, which borders the site, and creating a one-way system to make it easier for visitors to drive in and out of the park.

“This winter, we have already spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on completely refurbishing our clubhouse and on the first phase of providing new holiday homes,” said Cawood Park’s co-owner, Andrew Pringle.

“The cottages which we are looking to replace were built at a time when the expectations of the public for self-catering holidays were very different to how they are today – times have moved on and customers expect more.

“We want to provide something with better facilities and which also reflects more positively on the rest of the park, as well as giving us the opportunity to take advantage of the lake.

“As well as this, the entrance to the cottages is on a blind bend from a road with a 70mph speed limit, so as part of the proposal we want to close off that entrance and incorporate access to the new holiday homes into our one-way system – we believe this would be safer for visitors.”

Planning statements submitted to Selby District Council by agents acting on behalf of the site’s owners said the current cottages “impose upon the character of the caravan park and open countryside”, and their proposed replacements would “be more compatible with the surrounding park and also meet the needs of the holidaymaker”.

Cawood Park’s application is expected to be discussed by the authority’s planning committee next month.