A Lake District youth hostel has been turned down in its bid to host a “bright shiny aluminium caravan” at its campus near Keswick.
National park planners refused the application on behalf of YHA Borrowdale for a seasonal pitch to accommodate an American-style Airstream caravan.
The “glamping” experience with a double bed, heating and charge points, offers tourists the chance to “sleep under the stars in luxury,” and have been rolled out at other YHA sites in the south east of England and south west Wales.
But the latest application from officials at the charitable organisation’s head office in Derbyshire, sparked objections from neighbours and Borrowdale Parish Council, who raised general concerns about overdevelopment at the site.
They said before the planning decision was determined, the two-bed unit was already being openly marketed and in place at the Longthwaite campus – submitting a photograph to planners as evidence.
One objector remarked: “It shows that the YHA has no interest in observing the rules set down by Government other than when they are caught out.”
But in response, the YHA said that ahead of installing the unit, it had applied for planning permission for it but had then experienced a “significant delay” in its application being processed.
“We therefore made the decision to install it while the application was being processed,” a spokeswoman said.
“The proposed new pitch replaces the position of a current land pod and therefore does not constitute an increase in the quantity of visitor accommodation to the site.”
It means the Airstream is set to stay for the time being with the YHA having appealed against the refusal which now looks set to be determined by an independent planning inspector.
It means the YHA is continuing to list Borrowdale on its website this week as one of only two sites in the north west of England where guests can enjoy an Airstream experience. The unit remains on the hostel’s online page.
But residents believe the site already has sufficient accommodation with what they said was 86-beds, space for up to 25 tent pitches, nine pods and parking for at least 50 vehicles.
An objector said: “The YHA has clearly adopted an approach of expanding its site in small incremental pieces, with or without planning permission.
“As such, each step, with or without a planning application, may appear reasonable but the planning authority needs, as the parish council has pointed out, to look at the totality of the facilities now being offered by the YHA and recognise that over development has taken place and the scope of services at the YHA needs to be reduced.”
Borrowdale YHA is becoming ‘overdeveloped’ say objectors
Borrowdale Parish Council also backed residents’ complaints that the site is becoming overdeveloped.
It said three “land pods” had been permanently sited for over a year without planning consent.
In a formal letter to the national park, parish clerk Becx Carter said: “Borrowdale Parish Council would object on the grounds that this bright shiny aluminum caravan is out of keeping for such a sensitive site.”
Park planners rejected the Airsteam on the grounds that it would be in open countryside for a significant portion of the year, and would result in “visual harm”.
“The caravan would appear as a modern, discordant feature, disrupting the appearance of the land and the woodland
setting,” said a planning officer’s report.
Any increased visitor accommodation at the hostel would “spread the impact” of it and “increase the risk” of disturbance to nearby protected woodland, the report said.
The YHA said it sought to have great “relations” with communities where it has youth hostels and wanted to “balance the need for accommodation” in Borrowdale.
It said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has created serious financial difficulties for YHA. We have lost £40 million so far.
“Due to a lack of en suite facilities in the rooms in the hostels, we have only been able to open a very limited amount of hostels and rooms since restrictions were eased.
“We currently have a camping exemption licence at YHA Borrowdale which enables us to operate our land pods on the site. In addition to removing one land pod, to ensure we did not exceed the number of people staying on site, we now no longer offer pitch-up camping.
“We hope our reassurances will mean that local residents and the national park authority planning board will understand our position.
“We will continue to work and listen to both.”
