Stokesby campsite plan sparks protest - what do you think?
By stephen pullinger broads correspondent
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
6:30 AM
A farming family’s plans to open a campsite on the outskirts of a Broadland village have sparked a heated protest.
The Gill family at Stokesby Hall Farm have already set up a website - broadscamping.co.uk - inviting holidaymakers to book for July next year.
If the month trial, which does not need planning permission proves successful, their intention is to submit plans to the Broads Authority for a permanent site on their land on the Runham side of Stokesby.
The website looks to woo campers with the prospect of ‘glamping’ in luxury bell tents as well as offering camping on traditional pitches; facilities to be offered include a shower block and toilets, hand basins and washing up sinks.
Daphne Gill yesterday told the EDP they were planning an “upmarket” campsite which would bring trade to the village and boost the Broads’ tourist offering.
However, neighbour Trevor Barber, 66, whose land would back on the proposed campsite, said the proposal had come as a shock to villagers who had not been consulted.
The retired boss of a national carpet manufacturer said the planned entrance to the site was on a “notoriously dangerous bend”.
He said: “As well as creating a traffic hazard and creating an ugly blot on the landscape, we believe that the extra 50 cars and 200 people that 50 pitches could bring would be too much for the village.
“It would be pitch black and dangerous for people walking back to the site from the village pub at night and there could be a lot of noise disturbance; we moved here for the peace and quiet.”
He has distributed leaflets - Carry on Farming (Not Camping) - to every local household and a number of residents have joined him in putting up protest posters. His next step will be to start a petition.
The latest row follows a furore last month when neighbours protested about an eyesore fertilizer tank being put up on Stokesby Hall Farm in front of luxury barns being developed.
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14 comments
In the report it is stated that Mr.Gill will install luxury bell tents.I assume he means the type they have on the continent which are already for occupation when you arrive.As for shower blocks they cost money.I don't know whether he has submitted plans yet but if he gets the backing of the Caravan &Camping Club I see no problem.How would I feel if I lived nearby.A damn sight better than the deal we got when the farmers sold there land round here.A massive shopping complex,a new mini town and a major motorway running through the middle.The 28 days trial does seem strange as you would have to provide all the facilities and then risk having to take them down.We were at Waxham for many years and the site there is controlled by the National Trust.It cannot open until Whitsun and closes in September.All built on what was once a farm.There was no problems there as far asd locals were concerned.
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john kendall
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Perhaps if you lived next door to the proposed campsite you might feel differently.Not sure why you keep mentioning different dangerous crossing areas-they are not proposing to open campsites there! How do you know the farmer is buying tents?-I thought campers brought these with them.I imagine he will be hiring mobile shower blocks etc as he has no planning consent to build these so your assumption that they are investing a lot of money is completely unsubstantiated.Our local pub,The Ferry Inn is very welcoming,but not sure when you went there to be made to feel unwelcome.Regarding the comment about only being open for 28 days,thats because they can do that without requiring planning.They have said if they consider the trial a viable sucess that they will then apply for planning.Why do you imagine they would do that?
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Trev
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I can't really understand all the fuss about a campsite that's only planning to be active for 4 weeks a year. Surely one would be glad of the extra custom for local amenities such as the shop, pub etc to help them remain in business. Live and let live and good luck to the Gill family!
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julie_8691
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I can't really understand all the fuss about a campsite that's only planning to be active for 4 weeks a year. Surely one would be glad of the extra custom for local amenities such as the shop, pub etc to help them remain in business. Live and let live and good luck to the Gill family!
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julie_8691
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Sorry Trev.but I know the area very well.Been visiting since the 50's and I think that we have walked around the area many times when we have moored up at the pub.I was being a bit sarcastic when I mentioned Asda,planners do not appear to take anything like dangerous entrances into consideration when grantinting planning permission.Try crossing the road at Acle Bridge from the pub to the boatyards.Far more dangerous than Stokesby.I was also joking about the 100's of dogs etc.Mr.Barber seems to have the idea that the proposed site is going to be full,week in and week out.As things are with tourism they will struggle to make it all pay in the first few years.Of course the farmer is buying tents as permanent fixings,along with the shower blocks.All cost money.I have not been in the pub at Stokesby for a few years now.It changed hands and we did not feel welcome when we moored up and the landing stages were not that safe.I hope they still have the old brass blow lamps and the old pot pop bottles[Jones of Leicester]Sorry if I strayed off the mark but the objections seemed to be frivolous to me.
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john kendall
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
We are not 'immigrants',we need neither passport nor visa to live here.We have lived in Stokesby for many years and are Norfolk born and bred.We are huge supporters of local farming and when we moved here we expected all the things associared with farming and totally embrace that.Somebody said the Gills should keep pigs in the field-well,thats farming and its what farmers do.Camping isn't! Clearly Mr Kendall knows nothing about the area but I have to tell him it has little in common with Asda's site,nor indeed Piccadilly Circus! Also,for his information,I am one of our local pub's best customers.I know the road,wear appropriate clothing and ALWAYS take a torch with me.Regarding children playing in the countryside,we are surrounded by excellent camping sites at Broad Farm,Clippesby Hall,Bureside etc which have great family facilities and where children can play in a safe environment.(I am not so sure they would welcome the hundreds of dogs he suggests they might bring)Mr Kendall also suggests the Gills are investing a lot of money on this.Perhaps he is a close friend if he has this kind of information.Unfortunately,most of us are not party to this.Regarding George Ezekial,I suggest he reads the article as he clearly has not grasped the situation at all.
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Trev
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I was reading Mr.Barbers objections again and I had to smile."It is on a dangerous bend" It take it he never shops at Asda in Yarmouth."It would be dangerous walking back at night from the pub"I take it,if that is the case he never visits the pub.He is also assuming that the site will be full every week and every car will carry 4 passengers.He forgot to mention the children that love camping and enjoy playing in the countryside or the hundreds of dogs they might bring with them.I used to have my touring caravan on the coast and the only noise we ever got was not people walking back from the pub but "locals"who thought that they could have drunken wild parties in the sand dunes every week-end.Good luck to the Gills.They are investing a lot of money and I am quite sure that they will protect their site from all what Mr.Barber objects to.
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john kendall
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
good luck to the gills.
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calmudownboy
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Not all 'immigrants' as you put it think that way. I moved here 10 years ago and my house backs onto farmland. Although not being in the touristy part. My family and myself have entered into the country way of life as much as possible. If that is the only way the farmer can make ends meet then so be it. As has been said better that than sold off to developers. I noticed in the letters page of the Mercury last week someone complaining about gas guns going off in farmland near to where the individual lived. I have the same here and it does not bother me a bit. In fact it helps because if I doze they wake me up. If that is what is needed to scare the birds away I accept it. I also do not like people who move here and then want to change country ways. If they do not like it, do not come.
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ALED
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I live in Stokesby, at the other end of the village on another blind bend, so I am very familiar with the total disregard for speed limits and safety shown by the majority of drivers going through the village. My concern is that people unfamiliar with the chronic speeding problem through the village may get hurt. Drivers, mostly tradespeople using it as a rat-run, routinely go past my house within the 30mph zoneand round the blkind bend at 50+ and this includes articulated lorries! The villagers all know to be watch out for these disrespectful idiots, but holidaymakers won't. I don't really care if it is a campsite or a farm, but I am very concerned that unless the Police and Council start taking their responsiblity for a long-standing speeding problem throught the village seriously, that someone is going to get killed.
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Jason T
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Ah the age old problem of the countryside doing its work and move ins moaning. Move next to a working farm and expect to get fertiliser, straw stacks and muck heaps-the planning and environmental laws are in place to control where and how close to other properties and even how long muck can be on the land before being ploughed in. But of course moan they do . As for the campsite-how is this any different to the boats on the river. Tourism is apparently the big thing, the area is rather short on land based facilities. If this gets turned down I reckon the Gill's should rent out the field to a free range pig enterprise, bring a bit of real green aromatic countryside to Stokesby.
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Daisy Roots
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
They cannot have it both ways. Am I right in thinking the report says that the villagers objected to this farmer developing an existing operation because it would adversely affect the tourist business in the village. Then objecting to the farmer diversifying their business for the benefit of tourists. I hope if the objections are based on genuine concerns that the applicant can agree terms with the Authority. The report seems to imply there is a back story that may be making this issue more tense. All said immigrants coming in and telling us that we are spoiling their retirement should have very little influence on the economy of an area dependent on agriculture and tourism.
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George Ezekial
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I wish him well with his application. The villagers would soon moan if he sold the farm to developers if he couldn't afford to keep the farm going. I live in Dilham where we have boats and tourists all the time. Its part of life when you live in a tourist hotspot. If the villagers think about this they can also make money by selling jams, eggs, fruit and veg on their drivways. Thats what we do.
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Karen Henry
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Farmers have been encouraged to diversify while farmers are taking a mauling from the present financial climate.Perhaps 50 pitches is going too far but that is up to the planning authority.What would the locals say if he sold the land for building?We have lost 5 farms where I live and all we have now is sprawling estates.Good luck to the farmer.
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john kendall
Tuesday, July 10, 2012