Council approves wildlife lake and holiday lodges

Plans for a new wildlife lake, nature reserve and eight holiday lets have been approved by a council.

King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council agreed to the plans for Oakland Garden Supplies in Pentney, Norfolk, which also included building a number of domestic dwellings and extra warehouse space.

The project is expected to create 20 new jobs and was also supported by Pentney Parish Council.

The borough council received six letters letters of objection from two neighbours who raised concerns over increased traffic and damage to the nearby Pentney Heath Wildlife Site.

Lee Ward, the applicant and owner of Oakland Gardens, told the council planning meeting his family had been working in the area for 15 years.

Mr Ward said "priority will be given to local applicants" when the company recruited for new roles in their expanding online horticultural supply business.

He told the committee the residential properties in the application were for his family who all work in the business and that the holiday lets were a way to diversify the company.

Mr Ward, in response to concerns about the impact on wildlife, said the application would improve the environment.

"Wildlife is our main attraction.

"This is not just a business for us, this is our passion where we spend most of our time, seven days a week growing the business we love and the environment we are privileged to live in."

Pallavi Devulapalli, an Independent councillor on the authority, said the area around Pentney Lakes is popular with tourists leading to some concerns about this development increasing pressure on local services, the environment and causing more traffic.

She added she was unsure if the application would benefit the area.

In November, a similar proposal to create 36 holiday lodges and a wild swimming centre was blocked by councillors due to the potential harm it could cause to the environment.

Ms Devulapalli said: "I have remaining concerns about the fact we are talking about putting up housing and holiday housing in a rural location. It really doesn't fit with our planning framework.

"Having more people in a location is invariably going to increase traffic movements."

Despite these issues Ms Devulapalli voted for planning permission to be granted as did all the other members of the planning committee.

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