by Holly Tribe
A £2 million deal has been agreed to redevelop a vacant camping and caravanning site in Suffolk.
Tingdene Parks, an established caravan park operator, have taken on a 99-year lease for the council-owned site in Lowestoft. According to The Advertiser24, the firm intends to provide 50 static caravan pitches plus facilities for touring caravans and campers.
The site has been the subject of local consternation for several years after Waveney District Council stated it could no longer afford the upkeep and maintenance and proposed to sell it.
After strong opposition from the local community, the case was opened up to a public consultation in 2006. The Council then announced it would look for a suitable alternative “to transfer the operation of the site to a third party with the experience of running and managing such operations.”
A £4.5 million re-development deal was agreed with Park Holidays in 2007, but the contract fell through when the leisure firm backed out of the deal, deciding instead to invest the money in their existing parks.
The contract was re-tendered by the council and finally, the North Denes caravan and camping park has a new operator.
Tingdene Parks run eight other caravan sites along the east coast of England and will proceed with a new site license application with the hope of getting the park open early next year.
In other news Park Resorts recently announced the opening of two new facilities in Lincolnshire and Norfolk .
