Bid to install nine retro American luxury caravans refused

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Wednesday, 18 May 2022 13:17

By Gavin McEwan - Local Democracy Reporter

A bid by a North Herefordshire campsite to install nine retro American luxury caravans has been refused.

The Wells campsite near Bromyard already has five of the Airstream caravans, which it said offer “an upmarket glamping experience”.

The distinctive chrome-clad caravans are “the trailer of choice for erstwhile pop stars and famous country singers”, it said.

The nine would be spread out across 3.4 hectares of fields, and would only be used between spring and autumn, being stored away the rest of the year.

The current five caravans were trialled in the summer of 2020, when they were “fully booked and received rave reviews from guests”, the application said.

But Herefordshire Council’s planning officer thought the plan to expand the offer “would be incongruous with the character and appearance of this area, and would have an unacceptable landscape and visual amenity impact”.

The campsite’s proposal also fell short on foul and surface water drainage, particularly as the site lies within the catchment of the protected river Lugg, the planning officer said.

It would also mean occupants “being totally reliant on privatised [sic] transport to access nearby services and facilities”.

Bromyard and Winslow Town Council also objected to the plan’s potential impact on The Green, a nearby 18th-century Grade II* listed country house, as well as on drainage, traffic and on a public footpath.