Part of a huge vacant site in Hull sold earlier this year in a £5.25 million deal could be used to store caravans and lodges destined for holiday parks around the UK.
The 33-acre former National Grid-owned site off Clough Road was bought by the Hull-based civil engineering group Ashcourt in May. It was previously used as a storage site by British Gas.
At the time, the deal was described as a "huge win for the local area" with the prospect of creating "significant employment opportunities". Under city council planning policy, it is zoned for future employment, industrial or trade counter uses and is divided into separate development plots of between three and 10 acres.
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Now plans have been submitted by Ashcourt to allow the use of around a third of the area for the open storage of lodges and caravans - one of Hull’s biggest exports - and a booming sector that has been reinvigorated by the staycation trend that emerged through the pandemic.
If given the go-ahead, the storage site would be operated by Sussex-based Park Holidays UK, which runs 43 holiday parks across the country. It was recently bought by NYSE-listed US giant Sun Communities.
An application submitted by ASE Ltd on behalf of Ashcourt, said: "Park Holidays requires the site for the open storage of caravans and lodges in association with the operation of the holiday parks. Lodges and caravans will be stored on the site in preparation for transportation to or from the parks.
"A small transport company will be based on the storage site to assist with the transportation of the lodges and caravans to and from the site. The site would accommodate the storage of approximately 300 units at any one time and vehicle movement to and from the site would equate to around 20 moves daily in and out of the yard.
"The site will have three to five direct employees in association with the storage use to supervise the yard, assist in the movement of stock and as security. The distribution of the caravans and lodges to the various holiday parks across the UK will also employ 25 articulated lorry drivers, 12 support drivers and eight escort vehicle drivers. This will be managed by a small transport company operating from the site."
The land earmarked for the storage yard is close to the neighbouring Humberside Police divisional headquarters building. The application says National Grid still maintains operations on a small part of the site while the remainder of the land has been cleared and remediated for future potential use.
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