Plans for North Yorkshire green holiday village to create 160 new jobs

A proposal for a green holiday village, Angrove Country Park, near Great Ayton have been submitted to Hambleton District Council.

The plans, spearheaded by forward by local farmer Alan Petch, was the subject of a public exhibition in August this year where the local community’s views and input were taken into consideration.

Following feedback from both local residents and Council planners, the proposal has been amended to reduce the number of chalets, enhance landscaping works and increase tree planting.

The 179 chalet park would feature 48 fewer chalets than originally suggested and would be situated to the south west of Great Ayton, between the A173 and Yarm Lane.

The scheme also includes plans for fishing ponds and a central hub providing café, cycle hire and administrative support.

Consultants’ reports confirm the development would create around 160 new jobs on site and within the local economy. The scheme will also provide around £5.6m of direct spending in the local economy by visitors and a total, cumulative direct and indirect economic impact of £24.4m in the local economy per year.

Feedback to date has focused on the scale of the development, potential impact on nearby properties and visual impact from public vantage points and the surrounding roads.

As a result, the scheme now includes around 14 acres of native tree planting and over 1km of new hedgerow planting to reinstate the traditional ancient hedgerows and field boundaries.

In addition, several green energy and transport provisions have also been put forward, including supporting Sustrans and Stokesley Cycleways Group in their delivery of the ‘Endeavour Way’ cycle path, the link between Stokesley and Great Ayton; a shuttle bus service from the site to Great Ayton and Stokesley; facilities to collect visitors from Great Ayton train station and improvements to the existing bus stops along the road.

Solar power generation and ground source heating aim to provide renewable energy for the park.

Steve Hesmondhalgh, planning consultant on the proposal, said: “We’re grateful for the input of all the local people who took the time to come and view the proposals in August and provide us with their feedback. We appreciate the concern around the scale of the development and the proximity of some of the chalets to nearby residences and on the overall visual impact of the scheme.

“We’ve taken on board peoples’ comments and we feel that the proposal we are now putting forward represents a real benefit to the area and the rural economy around Great Ayton and Stokesley. We have reduced the number of chalets, taking them away from the edge of the site and neighbouring properties, creating a more spacious environment and we’ve incorporated around 50 per cent more planting, to help reduce the visual impact and improve ecological benefits.”