North Yorkshire’s national parks are seeing soaring numbers of plans to create tourist accommodation as the owners of anything from farm fields to a garage seek to cash in on latent demand for holidays and a boom in staycations.
National park bosses said dozens of planning applications have been lodged with the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales authorities in recent weeks following issues over foreign holidays becoming clearer and a massive increase in media awareness of the British landscapes.
Director of planning for the Moors authority, Chris France, said while development proposals in general rose by 20 per cent last year, the first month of this year had seen an even sharper increase.
He said:
“Last year it was down to small-scale household applications as people were saving money and weren’t travelling, but this year it’s larger proposals as well and in particular a really significant increase from the hospitality and tourism accommodation sector.
“We are seeing a lot of small-scale works on farms, expansion of existing camping and caravanning sites, lots of glamping and holiday lodges. There’s been a move towards self-contained holiday accommodation where people don’t have to share amenity blocks.”
Communities, particularly those in areas with high volumes of tourists, have started to react to the wave of proposals, warning the park authorities of the consequences of mass tourism.
However, planning bosses say while their policies recognise the importance of tourism for local economies, the national parks have the capacity to attract more people to enjoy their special qualities. Mr France highlighted how the Moors national park had adopted policies last July that would protect against inappropriate tourism developments.
He said:
“We are aware of the need for a balance and some local communities unease with tourism, but we feel our policies are about small-scale appropriate tourism that helps people to understand what a fantastic place the North York Moors is and helps the local economy.”
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