Burning issue resolved at revised Dales holiday complex

A revised proposal for a large modern holiday complex in open countryside near Linton in the highly protected Yorkshire Dales National Park should be approved, officials have recommended.

A meeting of the park authority’s planning committee on Tuesday (April 23) will hear the Linton Regeneration Company has agreed to cut dozens of wood-burning stoves from its controversial proposal to build an aparthotel at Linton Camp, eight miles north of Skipton.

The revised plan for the site follows the firm gaining consent in 2020 for what remains among the largest-scale proposals to have been approved in recent decades in the national park, where major developments are very rare.

The firm has said concerns had emerged over staffing the high-end hotel and leisure complex it was given consent to build on the 18.6-acre Wharfedale site, which, in the past, was a World War Two camp and school for evacuees, and later a holiday home.
Community leaders and traders in the national park have said staffing issues have been exacerbated since the pandemic, partly due to a lack of suitable accommodation with a rise in the number of former long-term rental properties being used as second homes or holiday lets.

The developer has said a review had found construction costs had risen significantly and up to 154 staff would be needed to successfully staff a five-star operation, as consented, while the revised proposal would only need a maximum of 48 staff.
Instead, the firm is now seeking consent to create 24 self-contained ‘serviced’ holiday units over 2 floors, with a spa, gym, a 24-seat cinema, two-lane bowling alley and a bar and restaurant, nine self-contained holiday lodges and a 76-space underground car park.
Linton Parish Council has urged the authority to reject the revised proposal, – describing the scale of the development as “excessive” while highlighting its impact on the protected landscape.

A parish council spokesman added: “The job opportunities and facilities which may have been considered plus points in the original application are vastly reduced.

“The previous development applications highlighted the huge benefits that the hotel would bring to the local population in terms of full-time employment opportunities within the national park.”

However, planning officers said after concerns were raised over a profusion of wood burners and flues the firm had agreed to omit the wood burners and flues from the apartments in the main building.

An officer’s report to the planning committee states: “They propose to retain a single wood burner and flue in the bar area and to the separate nine lodges, all the same as the currently approved scheme.

“It is considered that the omission of the wood burners will be a significant improvement to the design of the building, with less interruption of the grass roof, and will enhance the sustainability of the proposed development.

“It is considered that the proposed development has been innovatively designed to significantly mitigate the impact of a large modern development in an open countryside.”