District planners have this week turned down a bid to construct 43 holiday homes at a leisure complex in Brean, near Burnham-On-Sea.
Sedgemoor’s Development Control Committee refused permission for the removal of 39 static caravans, plus the relocation of 24 static holiday caravans and construction of 43 lodges on land to the South of Diamond Farm, Weston Road, Brean. The plan also includes the formation of a new access and landscaping, plus the formation of two ponds and a lake.
Sedgemoor case officer Rob Morgan had recommended the application be refused. In a report to councillors, he stated: “The holiday centres of Brean and Berrow contain many caravan parks immediately adjacent to the coastal strip with ease of access to local services and the beach areas. The policy of the District Council has been to promote these areas as tourist destinations and to direct investment to established sites, while restricting the spread of caravanning uses into the wide, open, areas of flat land which stretch back inland towards the east.”
“It is readily acknowledged that many of the older caravan sites may benefit from updating. The Local Planning Authority have welcomed investment in new facilities whether as new buildings or roadways, parking or play areas and environmental improvements.”
He added: “Diamond Farm is a well run and established caravan site which contributes to the rural economy of the area. There are no objections whatsoever to the reorganisation and improvement of the existing static field, or to the larger, main touring caravan site on the other side of the road.”
“Diamond Farm is not located within the development boundaries of Brean. It is divorced from the coastal strip, lying in an agricultural setting of flat open fields. Access between the caravan park and the beach is hazardous. The road to Brean is narrow and winding, without footways and wholly unsuitable for pedestrians, particularly families with young children. Taken together, this would not be the location to promote large scale new caravanning uses.”
NB: Due to a production error in the first version of this article, the story was updated on 27.1.07.
