PLANS have been submitted to extend a leisure park in the Ribble Valley.

Ribble Valley Leisure Park in Paythorne wants to add extra pitches, a car park and outdoor children’s play equipment to its existing facility.

According to plans submitted to Ribble Valley Borough Council, the site owners want to extend the site by approximately 2.6 hectares.

This will add 30 holiday static pitches to the park, which already has planning consent for up to 295 caravans.

The plans would also include additional landscaping and biodiversity enhancements, according to documents already submitted.

A spokesman for the applicant said: “Ribble Valley Country & Leisure Park is a well-established holiday static caravan park with existing consent to accommodate up to 295 caravans which can be used for holiday purposes only throughout the year.

“The caravan park accommodates limited facilities, namely a children’s play area, shop and laundrette.”

He added in the letter to the council: “The development will reflect the existing development and is therefore felt to be sympathetic to the existing surrounding development.

“The scheme has been designed in conjunction with the Site Licence Model Standard requirements for holiday caravan parks of this nature and is compliant with all legal requirements.”

The existing park comprises of five field units, covering an area of almost 11 hectares, 1.8 miles north of Gisburn.

The extension would fall south of the site into two grassed fields, which are currently used for occasional grazing purposes and informal recreation.

The application said the holiday units would be screened from view by the intervening layers of existing trees and hedgerows.

The plans have gone out for consultation and people have until next Wednesday to make comments.

A decision will then be made whether the plan goes before councillors.

Or it may be decided to allow officers to make the decision themselves using delegated powers.