by John Prince and Sam Hawcroft
East Riding Council has given permission for a major multi-million pound redevelopment of a holiday park to go ahead, which will bring to an end four decades of trading at Skirlington Market on its current site.
Unity Holidays, which owns Skirlington Coast near Skipsea, had applied for a change of use, conversion and alteration of the existing market building and surrounding area.
It is planned that the market and car park will be redeveloped with new holiday caravan pitches, and ancillary leisure facilities including a ‘festival gardens’ including play areas, crazy golf, and indoor sports.
There had been lengthy objections from market directors and traders, including a petition signed by more than 12,000 people, to try and save the market from closure.
In an emotive meeting at County Hall in Beverley, representatives from both Unity Holidays and Skirlington Market made last minute admissions to the committee, citing reasons for and against the plans.
Market director Angela Parry argued that approving the application would end the nationally recognised market, stating it failed to consider the loss of hundreds of traders’ jobs, the impact on local suppliers and the loss of a major tourist attraction.
She said the market serves as a vital community hub, especially for the elderly and those on limited income, and suggested the new leisure development could be located elsewhere on land to the south, allowing it and the market to coexist.
Nick Laister, representing Unity Holidays, stated the Skirlington Coast development would create 36 permanent, year-round jobs and would contribute more than £2 million annually to the local economy.
He described the current market buildings as neglected, and said the redevelopment would remove significant local traffic from rural roads, which would in turn improve safety at the holiday park.
He also stated that the market’s tenancy was being legally terminated regardless of the planning decision, leaving a choice between investment or vacant buildings.
Councillors described the decision as a conflict between ‘head and heart’ and acknowledged the market’s community value, but were advised that its loss as a commercial enterprise was not a material planning consideration.
Several noted that Unity Holidays had made it clear the market would close regardless of the vote, and refusing the application would likely lead to a costly, unsuccessful appeal.
It was also stressed that the decision to close the market is that of Unity Holidays, and not East Riding Council.
In the meeting, councillors voiced concerns about overdevelopment, warning of the cumulative impact on the coast and the landscape, turning it into what they described as a “caravan city”.
The final vote was cast in favour of the planning application by six votes to three, with one abstention.
Officers advised there were no valid material planning reasons to refuse, the scheme complied with local and national planning policy, and the closure of the market and lease dispute were commercial matters outside the planning committee’s remit.
A separate application for the car park in front of the market building, intended to accommodate 92 caravans – 60 ‘rollbacks’ and 32 new ones – has been deferred.
The park has lost 149 pitches to coastal erosion since 2007, with the new development utilising the ‘rollback’ policy to relocate threatened pitches to safer land.
Following the decision Angela Parry said: “I’m disappointed, and I’m really disappointed on behalf of our traders. We’ve done our best.
“If the planning application had been rejected today, it would have been worth us fighting the legal side of it, because they wouldn’t have been able to prove a firm intent to develop the land, and we stood a chance of being awarded a new tenancy lease.
“But as it stands with the planning application passed, it’d be pointless fighting it. So I think we need to focus our attentions on finding a new venue.
“It won’t be a relocation because you can’t relocate what that is. There’s too much infrastructure there. Too much money would have to be spent to recreate exactly what we have at Skirlington that we’ve grown organically over 40 years.
“If we could have had hearts over planning policy, we’d still have the market. But it had to do with planning policy, and there wasn’t enough to reject [the application] within the planning framework.
“I just want to thank everybody for their support because it has been truly outstanding – online, the petition and in the media. It really blew us away.
“Hopefully we can find a venue to at least house some of our traders somewhere else.”
In a later statement posted online from the market, it said: “We want to make it clear that today’s decision does not mean the market closes immediately. We’ll continue trading while the next steps are worked through.”
A spokesman from Unity Holidays said: “We thank the council’s planning committee for approving our application to redevelop the land on our park currently occupied by Skirlington Market, as well as the buildings on that land used by the market.
“We look forward to commencing work on that project as soon as possible, which will see us add indoor and outdoor sport and leisure facilities as well as re-landscaping the entire area.
“Our application to compensate for the loss of caravans to coastal erosion – in line with the council’s planning policy – was deferred.
“We look forward to discussing with the council and clarifying their grounds for deferral.
“We look forward to the planning committee supporting that proposal as well in due course.”