Extension to Center Parcs holiday village at Sherwood Forest is back on table

In 2019, Center Parcs Ltd had a scheme approved for the demolition of a single-storey building containing holiday apartments, to be replaced by a two-storey equivalent. But it never went ahead because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now the company has submitted a fresh planning application to Newark and Sherwood District Council for the demolition and the construction of a three-storey replacement.

The new building would create 29 new apartments, taking the total in this area of the park to 40, including one that is wheelchair-accessible.

They would be a mixture of two-bedroom units and one-bedroom studio suites. Each would have its own balcony or terrace, and the 14 on the ground floor would boast hot tubs.

The plan also includes an increase in the number of car parking spaces to 58, and the creation of 114 cycle spaces, two disability spaces and two mobility scooter spaces.

The site is to the north of the main guest car park at the Old Rufford Road venue. It was originally occupied by Center Parcs’s head office until that was re-located to Ollerton.

Detailed planning papers and drawings have been compiled by the architecture and design company, Jackson Design Associates, based at the Sherwood Energy Village in Ollerton.

The papers reveal that the application site “currently provides over-sized, inefficient accommodation”, and the new three-storey block would not negatively impact the experience of guests, nor the views, ecology and biodiversity of the site.

Plans also say the style of the building would match those Center Parcs currently operates at its holiday villages at Elveden Forest in Norfolk and Longford Forest in Ireland. It would be long and wide, but existing tall trees from the nearby car park would significantly reduce any visual impact.

Center Parcs originated in the Netherlands in 1968 and now operates from 28 locations across Europe, including five in the UK.

The Sherwood Forest location was Center Parcs’s first getaway destination to open in the UK in 1987. It boasts thousands of indigenous trees and several acres of lakes, streams and ponds.

The council’s planning officers are currently considering the extension scheme and hope to make a decision or recommendation by their deadline date of Monday, January 5.

Other planning applications received by Newark and Sherwood Council in recent days include these:

Millersdale, Station Road, Ollerton – garage conversion, with increase in roof height and installation of dropped kerb to existing access.

1 Parkgate Close, Ollerton – single-storey extension, with pitched roof, at rear of house, plus conversion of an integral garage.

Manor Paddock, Main Street, Ollerton – felling of dead silver birch tree.

Marple House, Westgate, Southwell – work to two silver birch trees and one ash tree, reducing their height, pruning the sides to give shape and removing any dead, diseased or damaged wood.

Land off Mansfield Road, Clipstone – application to vary Section 106 agreement attached to planning permission already granted, namely remove provision of ‘first homes’ from the affordable housing requirements.

Grass verge to west of Wellow Road, Eakring – removal of one ash tree.

15 Thornton Close, Bilsthorpe – work to trees, including cutting back an ash and sycamore to boundary fence and trimming a conifer.

55 Westgate, Southwell – work to cherry tree.

THE details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to https://publicnoticeportal.uk/