Thurso holiday park proposal recommended for refusal
Councilors are being urged to refuse permission for a planning application seeking to pave the way for a new holiday park in Thurso.
Permission is being sought for a change of use wasteland at the former Bridgend Building Supplies yard by the River Thurso to create the holiday park that has already attracted criticism.
One local resident feared it would be an eyesore and the “first step towards a Blackpool type town”.
Applicant Barry Property Ltd of Thurso wants to create a holiday park comprising 13 self-catering tourist accommodation “capsules”, designed in a “futuristic” style along with associated reception/laundry and refuse/recycling facilities.
It says that the development fits in with the visions of the Caithness and Sutherland Local Development Plan which aims to “improve the vitality and amenity of the main town centres in the area”.
Despite this planners are recommending to members of Highland Council’s north planning applications committee that they refuse the application on a number of grounds when it comes before them on Wednesday.
These include the fact that the proposed development is on ground at current and future risk of flooding and that the proposed access pojnt would create additional pressures on the adjacent A9 “at a location where the existing layout does not meet current design standards thus creating interference with the safety and free flow of the traffic on the trunk road.”
Planners add: “The proposed development includes insufficient landscaping measures for biodiversity enhancement and could potentially impact adjacent mature trees, which are important amenity assets.”