DORSET’S famous Blue Pool tourist site near Wareham has been told it will not be authorised to run a campsite this summer – to protect nearby heathland.
Similar camps have been held in recent years, without objection.
The Estate owner is now taking professional advice to see if a solution can be found to allow the camping to go ahead without suffering an important loss of income.
A Dorset Council report says that the extra people the campsite use will bring is likely to increase the harm to local sites of Special Scientific Interest at Hartland Moor, Stoborough and Creech Heath, all internationally designated lowland heaths, and to the water catchment area of Poole Harbour, an international RAMSAR protected site.
Furzebrook Estate owner Matthew Jones has described the council’s refusal as a farce: “Having put forward mitigation measures, as we were advised to do, the council then tell us that they haven’t got to tools from the Government to judge the effectiveness, so they simply refused consent.”
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He said that with many of the camping spaces already booked and paid for, and tents and staffing lined up for July through until September, the business is now facing a substantial loss of income, running into tens of thousands of pounds.
“The (holiday) season in Purbeck is very short: This is important revenue for us, needed to keep us open in the winter. To be frank if we haven’t got the revenue it may have to mean less staff. The council say they want to support small businesses but we’ve just gone round the houses in what turns out to be a pointless exercise.”
A council report, quoting Natural England who act as advisers, say that even with mitigation measures, because of the close proximity of the heath, the camping consent should not be permitted.
The tourist attraction had hoped to operate a campsite within its grounds from July 24 until September 1 using permitted development rules which, in the majority of cases, allow for up to 60 days camping during the course of a year.
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The complication has occurred at Blue Pool because of the proximity to protected nature sites which, like other locations in the county, means landowners in those areas requiring a specific consent to meet habitat regulations in order to take advantage of the temporary camping. This often involves having to take mitigation measures on their land, and/or pay a mitigation fee.
A pop up camp site on Portland last year fell foul of the same rules and was refused consent under habitats regulations because it was marginally closer than 5km from The Fleet and Chesil beach protected area. Other applications have also been refused on similar grounds.
The Blue Pool application shows an L-shaped area of land on two sides of the Pool which was proposed for a camp site, which the Furzebrook Estate said had been used in three previous years, without problems.
Ten Bell tents were being offered for hire with around a dozen pitches where visitors could bring their own tents.
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