East Lothian Courier | News | Holiday park expansion

Thursday, 24th July, 2008

Published: Thursday, 27th March, 2008 11:50

Holiday park expansion

SETON Sands Holiday Village has been given the green light by East Lothian Council for 58 new caravan plots – the first stage of what it hopes will be a £7 million park redevelopment.

Park owners Bourne Leisure will now go ahead with the work on the new plots and related access roads and footpaths, but is still awaiting a decision on additional proposals to expand the site further to include a nine-hole golf course and clubhouse.

Each new plot will accommodate one static caravan with a parking space for one car, and will be accessed by a new internal site road.

The area to be developed was previously agricultural land to the south east of the current site and will be served by the existing amenity buildings in the holiday village.

A spokesperson for Bourne Leisure said: “We are delighted by the decision of East Lothian Council to grant us planning permission to develop (more plots) at our Seton Sands holiday park.

“The park enjoys a fantastic location at Port Seton, offering holiday makers and holiday home owners access to all the attractions of the local area, as well as nearby Edinburgh.

“Seton Sands operates at occupancy levels in excess of 95 per cent, demonstrating the strength of our offering and the local area as a whole.

“We therefore see this decision as positive news, not only for our continued investment programme within the East Lothian area, but also in bringing further tourism opportunities to Scotland.”

When Bourne Leisure first unveiled its plans for the park two years ago, project supporter, environmental campaigner David Bellamy, met pupils from local primary schools to explain how native flora and fauna would be protected and nurtured.

But not everyone believes the proposals will be a big boost to the area.

Abbie Marland, chairperson of the Seton Fields Community Company that works to ensure that land use in the area is for the benefit of local people, said: “I can’t see how this will really help the local economy. There may be a few more jobs for people in the area, but I think that it is more about making profits for people in the south of England.

“I would hope that East Lothian Council would ensure that this new development meets the highest standards in terms of it being environmentally friendly.

“There is no reason why the static caravans on the new plots should not produce their own energy, for example.”

Seton Sands – which currently has more than 600 caravan berths – is part of the English-based Haven group of parks which has 23,000 holiday home owners and attracts 2.5 million holiday makers a year to its various sites.

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