A TOTAL of 12 new caravan pitches can be added to a holiday park in the Carlisle area after planners granted planning permission for the project.

The planning application was for a site at Green Acres Caravan Park, High Knells in Houghton, and the existing shower block can also be extended.

The application was to change the use of agricultural land and planning permission was granted, subject to conditions, on Tuesday (November 5).

According to a planning report the extension of the shower block proposed to provide an additional six showers and four basins.

The report states: "The proposal would be an expansion of an existing sustainable rural tourism business and would ensure the continued viability of the enterprise; the application site is well related to the existing caravan site and storage compound with additional landscaping proposed to minimise any perceived visual impact; adequate access/parking provision can also be achieved; and the application site is not located within a flood risk area."

According to the report the application site would be screened from public viewpoints by existing and proposed hedgerows and planting.

It adds: "Accordingly, the proposal is unlikely to have a significant detrimental impact on the character of the area."

The report states that the nearest residential property, High Knells Farm, is approximately 180 metres south west from the application site.

It adds: "Given the existing use of the site and the distance from the development, the proposal would not have a significant impact on the living conditions of occupiers of neighbouring properties through intensification of use or unacceptable noise and disturbance."

It concludes, in overall terms, the principle of development is acceptable. It adds: "The location, scale and design of the development is appropriate to the character of the area with adequate access/parking achievable and would not lead to an increase in traffic levels beyond the capacity of the surrounding local highway network.

"Any perceived visual impact from public viewpoints would be mitigated through the planting of native hedgerows to mirror the existing hedgerows surrounding the site.

"Given the scale and orientation of the development in relation to neighbouring properties it is unlikely that the development would have a significant detrimental impact on the living conditions of the occupiers of those properties through intensification of use or unacceptable noise and disturbance."