Decision on static caravan plans for Pevensey Bay holiday park deferred

At a meeting on Tuesday (November 24), Eastbourne Borough Council planners considered plans to replace touring caravan pitches with static caravans at the Bay View Holiday Park in Old Martello Road.

While recommended for approval, councillors had concerns about the loss of the touring caravan pitches, arguing it would impact on the town’s tourism accommodation and result in a “a very noticeable change of use” for the site.

Among those to raise concerns was Cllr Jane Lamb (Con, Meads), who said: “I’m concerned that it sounds as if it is no longer a holiday site, but like an almost full time residential site with 11 months of the year.

“[It] doesn’t allow touring caravans and campers to visit our lovely town and encourage tourism in that sense. [It is also] likely to produce more camper vans parking in our beautiful seafront, which causes problems for our residents and visitors also.”

Officers appeared to disagree with this view, however, arguing that the site would remain under the same management with the same use.

Planning officers also stressed that the caravans would remain as holiday accommodation and could not be used as an owner’s main residential accommodation. Conditions would also mean caravan owners would also not be allowed to live on site during the month of February. 

This did not convince councillors, however, who pointed to similar sites with these rules elsewhere in the region. 

Cllr Robin Maxted (Lib Dem, Old Town) said: “I accept that there are limitations for just 11 months of the year, and hopefully people who registered caravans there have got another address where they are registered for council tax.

“But I know a few people actually who live in similar places and they just go on holiday to South East Asia for the month of February or whatever. 

“I think this is a very noticeable change of use and I’m sure it is something that people who live in the vicinity will feel the impact of.” 

Cllr Maxted said he was also concerned about the loss of campervan pitches, arguing that there was likely a greater demand for such places in light of coronavirus pandemic and the rise in ‘staycations’.

Similar concerns had been raised by local residents, several of whom had put in objections to the scheme.

In light of these concerns, the committee opted to defer its decision in order to ask the applicant to reconsider the total removal of touring caravan pitches. 

They also asked the applicant to consider extending the period of time when the caravans would have to remain unoccupied each year, although they did not specify for how long.

The application is somewhat complicated as the holiday park sits on the Eastbourne/Wealden planning boundary and falls into the jurisdiction of both authorities as a result. 

Wealden District Council, which is responsible for the majority of the site, has already approved its part of the proposals, allowing the removal of 41 touring pitches to be replaced by 30 new static caravans.

Across the whole site, the park currently has 20 static caravans, 94 pitches for touring caravans and 114 camping pitches. 

With planning permission from both councils, the park would be able to replace all of this with 91 static caravans, 41 of which would fall within the Eastbourne Borough planning boundary.

For further information on the proposals see application reference 200180 on the Eastbourne Borough Council planning website.