Cleethorpes: Pleasure Island £65.9m development application made to the council
It closed as a theme park in 2016
Last updated 23rd Dec 2022
A planning application was filed on Thursday, December 22, for the £65.9m major development of a former theme park into homes and stores, including a Lidl.
Pleasure Island in Cleethorpes closed as a theme park in 2016. There has been considerable trailing of an application to transform the area into a new holiday park with a Lidl store. The consortium behind the move even carried out a brief public consultation on their plans.
At last, a planning application has been filed with the council, setting out the vision for the Pleasure Island development in a dizzying array of documents, reports and drawings. All existing buildings and structures on site are proposed to be demolished.
In their place there would be 272 holiday lodges with associated parking, two hotels, restaurants and cafes, a leisure unit, two retail units and a drive thru Costa Coffee. The consortium behind the application is made up of four different companies: Lidl GB Ltd, YPG Fab 2 Ltd, Seaside Getaways Ltd, and Church Lane Humberston Limited.
The retail and leisure statement prepared by Litchfields on behalf of Lidl reveals that other site options were considered for the development, including the formers Ramsdens site on Cleethorpes. But none of the alternatives were viewed as “suitable and available to accommodate the proposed development, due to a range of constraints, including size, location, and existing and proposed uses”.
The application form for the proposed development off Kings Road, Cleethorpes, says the there will be 222 hotel rooms. The larger hotel, also proposed to have a conference and casino centre, will comprise 148 rooms. It also estimates that the site will employ 318 people at full-time equivalent once completed.
The planning and economic statement indicates the proposed leisure unit is likely to be run by an arcade games operator. The plans for the site identify three main areas of development.
In the “Lakeside Area” will be the larger hotel complete with a conference facility capacity of up to 900 people. Alongside this will be a traditional restaurant and bar, and a foodhall, offering “flexible space for ‘pop-up’ food & drink operators, alongside seating and tables for communal dining”. The existing lake will be kept and made available for fishing.
There are three lodge areas that form part of the “Holiday Park Area”. Lodge area A will hold 59 lodges, parking, an ornamental lake and a play area. Lodge areas B and C will hold 92 and 121 lodges respectively and also have play areas. Separately, there will be a 232 sq m reception building with management accommodation. Rounding off the holiday park area is a two -storey cycle hire facility next to reception.
Finally, the retail and leisure area will consist of the leisure unit, a 74-bedroom hotel, Costa Coffee, a Lidl foodstore, and another retail unit which will include a garden centre. It is estimated that construction of the development will cost £65.9m and employ 902 full time equivalent construction jobs. This also works out at an average of about 113 such jobs each year it is being built.
Once complete, it is forecast that the development would raise £1.7m extra in business rates revenue, with £851,000 raised by the development for the local authority. It is also predicted to raise £16.9m more visitor expenditure per year and overall 447 new full-time equivalent jobs would be created, directly or indirectly. The Lidl store is expected to employ 30 people and larger hotel, casino and conference complex is predicted to employ 89.
The applicants hope to get approval for the Pleasure Island development in Spring 2023. If this is achieved, construction would begin later that year. Completing the development is expected to take eight years.