Plans for a spa and gym at the KP Club at Kilnwick Percy in the Yorkshire Wolds, UK has been likened to "parking 12 double decker buses in valuable woodland" by local councillors.
The development’s applicants, Kilnwick Percy Golf Club, narrowly secured planning permission despite strong objections from local residents and parish councillors.
The approved spa and gym at the 39-lodge property is 30sq m (323sq ft) and 3m high (10ft), which parish councillor Maggie Evans believes is too large – given that the woodland that helps to screen the complex from residents and tourists has been gradually eroded by the development already.
“This is equivalent to 12 double decker buses parked in a square and built into the valued woodland,” said Evans. “The applicant maintains the spa would only be for visitors to the lodges but there are seven treatment rooms and a yoga room proposed, in addition to a swimming pool.
“We don’t believe that 39 lodges can keep seven treatment rooms in business full time,” added Evans. “The scale of the gym also appears to be too large for just the lodges and golf club members.”
The project to expand the site’s leisure facilities has been criticised as “cumulative over-development” by councillor John Whittle, who said the scheme would increase disruption and noise for residents, as well as taking trade away from existing businesses.
Whittle is referring to the publicly-owned Frances Scaife Leisure Centre and similar businesses nearby.
While the planning councillors were split down the middle on the application, councillor Phyllis Pollard voted in favour of the project saying that although she sympathised with residents’ concerns, the “damage has been done” at the site.
Kilnwick Percy Golf Club maintains that the scheme is an appropriate form of sustainable development, which will blend into existing woodland without harming the wider landscape.
Existing leisure activities at the 180-acre woodland estate include an 18-hole golf club, two restaurants, plus space for corporate events and weddings.
