PLANS have been submitted for an extension to a lodge park to help boost the local economy.

Bosses at Ribble Valley View want 16 new lodges at the park in Old Langho to help bring more people to Ribble Valley.

A statement in the application said: “The existing Ribble Valley View park is part of a family business and is set upon land within the wider Aspinall’s Farm.

“The land and farm has been in the family for over 100 years.

“The cousins Philip, Ian and Robert Simpson and Helen Sharples own Dinckley Developments, the company that runs the existing Ribble Valley View park.

“The company have decided they wish to expand the business, based on the success of the existing park and to encourage more visitors into the local area and economy.”

The park was built in 2012 and the lodges are partly owned by private individuals as holiday homes and partly owned by Dinckley Developments and rented out as holiday homes.

These lodges have more than 90 per cent occupancy levels during the year.

It comes after another application for 29 holiday homes was refused in June 2020 on the grounds that it would have a ‘significant visual suburbanising effect on the landscape’.

However, in a planning statement prepared by Alan Kinder of A V Town Planning Ltd in Nelson said the 16 lodges would be ‘acceptable’ and would not have a ‘harmful impact upon the open countryside location.’ Jamie Govier, proprietor of the nearby Black Bull Inn, praised the plans saying they could bring ‘long term economic development to the area’.

He said: “The public house and restaurant work in unison with the lodge park and enjoys the consistent level of trade delivered by the weekly change in tourists provided by the lodge park.

“Given the remote location of the business, it is seen as a ‘travel to’ destination and as such would struggle without enhanced business that the lodge park delivers.

“The possibility to access the revenue of a further 16 lodges, delivering each two different families per week would seem almost business critical for us and the long-term viability for the Black Bull.”