Plans to turn Cornwall stone quarry into eco holiday park

Plans to turn a stone quarry into an eco-friendly holiday park have been submitted to Cornwall Council.

A company called Wilderness Escapes has applied to redevelop Dean Quarry at St Keverne on the Lizard peninsula into a holiday park for 53 holiday eco-lodges.

Plans have also been submitted for a further three holiday eco-lodges for the sole benefit of charitable causes.

The proposal is for the current planning consent for stone quarrying use on the 108-acre site to be repealed in order to make the use of the site for a holiday lodge development which has “a genuinely sustainable basis of use, construction, and operation, together with providing benefits to the locality”.

The applicant says this will be different to the average type of holiday development.

There would be no facilities such as bars, restaurants or swimming pools.

They state: “The company’s customers tend to be families seeking peace and quiet, in natural settings. They are not looking to stay in a traditional holiday park.”

Wilderness Escapes say that almost £1m a year will be created in off-site spending injected into the local economy, “helping to keep local visitor attractions, pubs, shops and businesses open and prosperous throughout the year”.

It would also see the creation of 56 new jobs, one per lodge, all-year-round.

Three of the holiday lodges would be used solely to generate lettings income, all of which will be donated to charitable causes.

Those benefiting would be the Lizard RNLI station (est. £30k a year), the Manacles Conservation Zone (est. £10k a year), Friends of St Keverne Health Centre (est. £10k a year), St Keverne Band (est. £10k a year) and National Park Rescue (est. £30k a year).

The site is currently subject to planning permissions permitting mining of minerals until August 2035 but the quarry is currently not in use.

The proposal comes alongside plans submitted to extend and modernise one of Cornwall’s most luxurious hotels, the Carylon Bay Hotel.

Credit: Lee Trewhela/Local Democracy Reporting Service