OPERATORS of a caravan park have applied to expand by almost 50 per cent to build on its popularity which has surpassed original expectations.
Barnard Castle Caravan Club’s site along Lartington Lane was given permission to extend into an adjoining field in 2013 but it lapsed before the new pitches could be built.
Now the Caravan and Motorhome Club is asking county planners for renewed permission to provide an additional 31 pitches, ten of which will be serviced.
The site was initially developed in 2010 at a cost of £1.7million and offers 76 pitches. At the time, the club estimated an occupancy rate of 80 per cent would generate £500,000 in off-site spending in Teesdale each year.
The club said: “In the first full season’s operation the site returned an average occupancy of 91.6 per cent.
“Against the Caravan Club’s experience of mature occupancy levels not being achieved until the third operating season, these figures made this site the most successful to be developed over the last few years.
“A natural consequence of this success was that the benefit to the local economy was proportionately enhanced well in excess of the earlier estimate.”
At the time of the site’s construction, Barnard Castle had 12 vacant high street shops – a number that fell to just two. The club said this was evidence of the site’s contribution towards the local economy.
The high occupancy rate of the caravan park meant that there is a significant unsatisfied demand, a spokesman said.
The club said: “While it is fair to acknowledge that this will be absorbed by the club’s other sites, for example in the Lake District and Northumberland, the club is willing commit further capital investment funds to carrying out a limited extension of the existing site which, by the time it is completed will be expected to increase the economic benefits from the existing touring site by at least 60 per cent.”
The caravan park is open from March to October each year.
The club said the new pitches would be an all-weather type constructed of loose stone chippings, which offer better access for people with mobility issues.
It added: “All weather pitches are especially popular with the elderly, who make up a large portion of our membership, as they offer a more uniform pitching surface than grass.”
