Development near 'Hollywood-on-Sea' approved

Plans for 28 lodges at a holiday park near a village dubbed "Hollywood-on-Sea" because of its celebrity residents have been approved.

Developers applied to build the units on a field about 0.6 miles (1km) east of Mawgan Porth on Cornwall's north coast, next to a separate holiday park with 106 static caravans.

A Cornwall Council planning committee heard there was effectively no local support for the expansion at Sun Haven Holiday Park, and it could lead to over-development.

The park's owners said they prioritised the needs of nature, did a lot in the local community, and business rates were trebling so there was a strong economic case.

The plans were approved by seven votes to two, with one abstention.

St Mawgan-in-Pydar Parish Council raised concerns the new development could harm an Area of Great Landscape Value (GLV) near the location, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Despite the developers reducing the number of units in an initial application, the parish authority said it still represented a "further extension to an already much-extended site and further intrusion into a once peaceful rural valley within the AGLV".

"The parish is already very well served for tourism provision," it said.

"Local residents' questionnaire responses for the parish neighbourhood plan showed that parishioners felt there was sufficient tourism provision and that the area did not need any more."

But, despite the parish council and the local member of Cornwall Council objecting, county planners recommended approval due to the "economic, social and environmental benefits associated with the provision of new accommodation" which officers believed outweighed any harm to the character of the area.

Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is among celebrities understood to have holiday homes in the area.

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