Controversial plans to build modern holiday let units near a Victorian landmark on the Yorkshire Coast have been refused after a backlash from residents.
Developer Knapton & Knapton’s proposal to build four holiday let units on Riverside Walk, off Larpool Lane and near the Larpool Viaduct, which was completed in 1884, has been blocked by North Yorkshire Council.
More than 30 objections were submitted by members of the public who raised concerns about damage to the environment, ecology, heritage of the area, the visual design of the scheme, and highway disruption.
One of the objectors said the land was “home to families of deer that use this embankment as a safe haven to not only live but to traverse the area safely and confidently”.
He said:
“We feel that disruption, in the form of construction work, to this balanced ecosystem would be detrimental to the area and its ability to support such a thriving environment.”
The proposed scheme would have involved widening a road, creating parking facilities and a comprehensive landscaping scheme close to a local holiday park.
The applicants said that the development aimed to create a “market-leading, high-end modular accommodation that is sensitive to the surrounding landscape, complements the character of the area, and enhances the user experience of both guests and the wider public.”
Council planners said the appearance of these holiday lets would result in “significant visual harm”.
They added that while the provision of tourist accommodation would benefit the wider economy and was a public benefit, officers said that due to the scale of the proposal, the benefit would be “very limited, and does not outweigh the harm caused to the listed building”.
North Yorkshire Council’s conservation officer raised concerns that the “intensification of development around the viaduct in recent decades means any further development will fully erode the last ‘green setting’, which will cause clear harm to the setting of this designated heritage asset”.
The ecology officer also stated that it “cannot be concluded that the proposed development would not result in significant ecological harm”.
The site is located just south of Whitby town centre, north-east of the village of Ruswarp, and is bordered by purpose-built holiday accommodation to both the north and south.
The “unacceptable” proposal was rejected by North Yorkshire Council earlier this month.
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