Lodge owners oppose golf resort extension plans

Lodge owners at a golf resort have spoken out against plans to expand the site with 76 new properties.

West Northamptonshire Council rejected the proposals for Overstone Park near Northampton and an appeal against that decision is being considered by the government's Planning Inspectorate.

Lodge owner Colin Richardson said the new development would make the site look like "a trailer park" and claimed there had been a decline in standards in recent years.

Applicant Overstone Park Resort previously said the development would help turn it into a luxury destination and allow investment in state-of-the-art amenities.

Mr Richardson, 86, has owned a lodge at Overstone for three years as a second home.

He said: "If we don't look after our backyard, who's going to?

"I think there would definitely be a number of people who will leave [if the appeal is approved] because there's been a general decline in the standards of what's there."

Members of the council's planning committee felt the plans would be an overdevelopment of the open rural setting and could harm the character of the area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Peter Davis, 76, chair of the Overstone Park Lodge Owners Association, insisted the resort's residents were prepared to support expansion in some form, but not the current plans.

He said approval would mean "carnage for quite a few years" while building work took place, negatively affecting people living at the site.

But one Overstone Park member submitted a letter in favour of the appeal, stating the "tired" facilities needed the investment that would come from the expansion.

Overstone Park Resort has been contacted for comment but previously explained the business had been in decline for more than a decade and could potentially lead to the park's closure.

It said the development would increase the value of the site and allow for investment into facilities such as a refurbished clubhouse.

The deadline for comments closed last month but no decision date has been revealed at this point.

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