Great Birchwood Holiday Park in Warton seeking to expand with 52 more caravans

Last week, Fylde Borough Council received a planning application for Great Birchwood Holiday Park on Lytham Road in Warton.

The application was seeking an “expansion of holiday park involving change of use of land for the siting of 52 static caravans” as well as “retrospective permission for the demolition of a former stable building.”

Plan drawings show that the new 52 caravans will be located half way around an existing lake which is currently just surrounded by grass and trees.

This part of the site was also formally home to a stable building that housed horses used in connection with the site’s previous incarnation as a ‘Wild West’ themed holiday park but the applicant confirms “the new owner is no longer continuing this theme”.

Of these caravans, eight will be based on a twin pitch measuring 40 feet by 20 feet (and these will all be directly on the lake’s edge) whilst 14 caravans will be based on a single pitch measuring 40 feet by 14 feet (these will be on a row behind the lake, bar one which is on the lake front).

These 21 caravans set around the lake will also come with double car parking bays.

South of the lake is then enother cluster of 30 caravans based on single pitches measuring 38 feet by 12 feet: these come with one single car parking bay.

Internally, all of the lodges come with a lounge, kitchen area and dining area.

The eight twin lodges then have two double rooms and a main bathroom whilst the master bedroom also has an ensuite bathroom and walk in wardrobe off it.

The 14 larger single units and the 30 smaller single units then all just come with one master bedroom, one twin room and a bathroom each.

The land were Great Birchwood Holiday Park lies was an RAF miliary camp in the 1940s but overtime began being used as a caravan and campingsite, which was later expanded to include ancillary facilities such as an entertainment facility, equestrian centre, and single storey timber holiday lodges.

The holiday park closed temporarily in 2016 but following the acquisition of the site by the applicant in 2023, it officially reopened fully in January 2024 and has a site license for 46 static caravans, 49 touring caravans and one residential plot.

In the planning statement, the application reads: “Compared to its heyday, the camping, holiday lodges and facilities in operation on site areat a significantly reduced scale from when it was last operating at full capacity decades ago,although many permanent structures, roads and associated hard surfaces remain. Theapplicant has grand plans for the continuing development of the site to add to their existing portfolio of successful holiday park sites across the North West, and this application is thestart of the new journey for Great Birchwood Leisure Village.”

Consulation on the application started on February 12 and is due to end on March 13.

You can read the full planning application on the Fylde Council website here.