Caravan park pitches close to Danes Dyke could double

A planning committee at East Riding of Yorkshire Council are set to decide a May 2023 application to extend Daneswood Caravan Park in Bridlington Road, Flamborough from 75 pitches to 152 and move a caravan storage area to the site from a nearby farm.

The caravan park is opposite Danes Dyke, a scheduled monument and 148‑acre nature reserve on the Flamborough Headland, centred on an ancient two-and-a-half-mile ditch‑and‑bank earthwork that cuts across the headland from coast to coast.

Recommended reading:

Could Iron Age site at Sewerby have had links to Roman slave trade?

Major road in East Yorkshire set to close for works

Multi-agency emergency after man falls from cliffs near East Yorkshire town

There is no public access to this part of earthworks next to the application site - which borders Danes Dyke - with a road on the other side of Bridlington Road taking vehicles and pedestrians to the Scheduled Monument via a car park and onto a popular beach.

Danes Dyke Nature Reserve and Scheduled Monument leads down to the North Sea coast near Flamborough (Image: Nadia Jefferson-Brown)

The application site also lies within the Flamborough Headland Heritage Coast.

Planning documents say approximately 4.7 acres of agricultural land would form the extension to the existing caravan park on grassland with no hard surface provision with landscape planting and screening intending to block views into the site from nearby rights of way.

The relocation of existing caravan storage would mean the main road between Flamborough and Bridlington would be free of some caravan transportation between farm and caravan park during operational times, planning documents said.

Six objections to proposals were submitted to the council including one from Flamborough Residents' Association who said the village has reached a tourism saturation point and that the application would more than double the current number of pitches at the site.

Consultees Natural England told the council applications for tourist accommodation developments in the vicinity of Flamborough Head may have led to increased recreational pressure on the coastline from Filey to Bridlington.

Planning documents said other caravan parks in Flamborough are generally closes to the coast east of the application site, however, there are other holiday sites within a mile of the application site including Bridlington Caravan and Motorhome Club and Marton Valley Caravan Park and Lodges at Bridlington Links Golf Club.

In a meeting of the council's planning committee tomorrow (Thursday, February 26), councillors are recommended to defer the application, according to a council planning report.

This is to allow comment from the council's sustainable development team - which helps ensure environmental issues are given equal consideration alongside social and economic factors within council policy - and also for the completion of a legal agreement which would secure £20 per year, per new caravan pitch, towards the Flamborough Head European Marine Site Management.

This is a five‑year framework coordinating public bodies to manage human activities around Flamborough Head, protecting its special area of conservation habitats and special protection area seabird colonies from harmful impacts.

Council planning documents say if there are no adverse comments received from its sustainable development team and the financial contribution is legally agreed, the recommendation is to approve the application.

All caravans would be off their pitches between November 30 and March 31, the plans said, and no single touring caravan used for holiday purposes would be able to remain on the site for more than 28 days in any two-month period.