Eco holiday village planned for south Lancaster could attract Eden Project Morecambe visitors

Set to be one of the most eco-friendly holiday parks ever built in the UK, the Ellel Eco Park, or holiday village, proposed to open fully by the end of 2029, would include 400 lodges, 100 stay pods, a market place (with retail sales area, food and drinks, servicing and storage) and up to 25 artisan pods, a hotel, a virtual reality experience building and associated car parking and land re-modelling.

According to independent experts, Ellel Eco Park, which would be developed on land at Home Farm, Ellel Grange, Main Road, Galgate, could create more than 620 full time jobs, attracting some 200,000 plus visitors who would spend in the local area.

Leading leisure experts also say the proposed plans would bring in £25m of new spending power to the area.

Ellel Holiday Village would also work closely with the Eden Project Morecambe to ensure that a co-ordinated approach was undertaken to educating visitors about the natural world, including the importance and sensitivity of the Bay.

It would be highly likely that the Ellel Holiday Village would provide accommodation for visitors to the Eden Project Morecambe.

The proposed development would include large areas of open greenspace and wildlife experiences with nature walks and other outdoor wildlife based activities throughout the site.

Attractions within the site would also include a virtual experience centre, indoor and outdoor activity centres.

These are proposed to include an eco-park containing a boardwalk through a wetland area, an immersive wildlife experience at Quarry Wood, further woodland activities at Flat Wood and adjacent boardwalks and an extensive network of other footpaths throughout the site through green and open areas.

The site would be designed to maximise the experience of being in nature for the visitors and appreciation of this, whilst minimising impacts on biodiversity.

It is estimated that the scheme would take five years to complete, with construction of the first phase set to begin in 2024 and completed by the end of 2025.

The final phase would be hoped to be completed by the end of 2029.

Around 800 residents have lodged objections with the city council about the development since the application was first submitted in 2020.

Alex Sayer, who lives at Ellel Grange, said: “I would like to object most strongly to this proposed development.

“The land at Home Farm is not included in the recent Lancaster Local Structure Plan and is therefore designated as an area of open countryside, and should be protected from large scale development.

“The historic and heritage value of the Grade II-listed Ellel Grange, its gardens, grounds, carriage drive and the designed landscape that surround it, including the other listed buildings on the site, should be recognised and protected.“The ecology and biodiversity of the site will be seriously harmed, with some species (brown hare) disappearing altogether. With the large volume of people visiting and staying on the site trampling will be a serious issue. A large area of unimproved heritage grassland will be lost.

“Increased traffic flow will be a serious problem. Junction 33 is already a busy junction and the planned alterations to it are only designed to cope with the increased traffic form the garden village.

“Add to this the large amount of building work along the A6, already passed and in construction, at Forton, Hollins Lane, Cabus and Garstang, the A6 and junction 33 cannot cope with the increased traffic from a development of this scale and size.”

Sam Lumb, a tree expert at Lancaster City Council, said: “This proposal has the potential to put pressure on the existing trees and woodlands, which does not currently exist.

"A preliminary assessment identified 230 features, including 135 individual trees, 79 groups, six woodlands and 10 hedgerows, of which six trees are identified as of veteran status or have characteristics of veterans.

"No tree works are proposed. No formal landscaping proposals have been submitted as part of this outline application.

"A high-quality landscaping plan is required to determine the impact of the development on the existing landscape character.

"It is therefore vital that there is a good understanding of the historic importance of the area and how the development will impact upon this.”

Natural England said in the planning document that they required further information to determine the impact on four designated sites including Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuaries Special Protection Area, Morecambe Bay Special Areas of Conservation, Morecambe Bay Ramsar and Lune Estuary Site of Scientific Interest, some of which are classified for rare and vulnerable birds.

They also wanted concerns to be addressed further on the impact to the Lancashire Coastal Way.

The concerns from a previous report still exist including people straying from the footpath onto the marshes (including the breaking of nearby fences to gain access) and causing damage to the habitat via trampling and the disturbance on qualifying bird species from the presence of people and dogs.

They also expressed concerns about the application and how it would affect local sites, priority habitats and species including ancient woodland and veteran trees.

Plans for the eco park were originally submitted to Lancaster City Council in 2021.

Andrew Stanyon, project director, said: "We see Ellel Eco Park as one holistic solution, the mixture of lodges, hotels and marketplace will not only allow us to invest in the intensive rewilding of the land, it will also give us a platform for visitors.

"A place where they will be able to immerse themselves in nature. Rewilding is not only about the land it is, in our view, as much about human interaction, and state of mind.”

View the planning application number 20/01453/OUT at https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/planning

A spokesman for Lancaster City Council said they expect it to be presented to committee later in 2023.

For more information visit https://www.ellelecopark.com/