PLANS to extend a mobile homes park onto former industrial land at Beachley were set to be rejected late yesterday afternoon by district council planners – for the second time this year.

The owners of the Severn Bridge Caravan Park want to expand onto the old Buttington Engineering Works next door and demolish the existing industrial buildings.

However, Forest of Dean District Council planners are opposing the scheme on a raft of objections and recommended to the planning committee it should be thrown out.

A similar application, also earmarked for rejection, was submitted to the council in March last year but was withdrawn in order to submit further information.

But the revised application also fell on deaf ears with the council planning committee, who refused permission in January.

The park owners have now come up with another revised scheme which reduces the number of caravans from 35 to 30 and includes an area of open space for recreation and dog walking.

But the planners are still not impressed.

A report to yesterday’s meeting of the planning committee said: “By reason of its location outside a defined settlement boundary, where there is little in the way of businesses, services and facilities that are easily accessible or could support development, the proposed siting of 30 residential homes would result in the introduction of unsustainable development…..”

Other objections included the threat of flooding, the effect of 30 new homes on the existing infrastructure and services in the area and the loss of an employment site.

The report was also critical of the likely effect of replacing the factory buildings with caravans.

“However, whilst the former factory buildings are unremarkable in themselves, they have the appearance of large agricultural buildings when viewed from Beachley Road, a building type that is not out of place within the countryside.

“Additionally, the main building does provide the benefit of significantly screening the adjoining caravan park from viewpoints in the north east.

“A caravan park such as this is not the type of development that one would expect to see within an open countryside setting.

“The loss of these buildings and replacement with an additional large number of caravans, with associated residential paraphernalia, therefore has the potential to result in the existing Severn Bridge Park and the proposal becoming significantly more prominent and would represent a significant change to the landscape.”