PLANS to build a multi-million pound holiday park at Kessingland look set to be given the go-ahead next week.

The proposals, submitted by the Norfolk-based Beeston Group, are being recommended for approval by members of Waveney District Council's development control committee on Monday.

As previously reported in The Journal, Beeston Group is looking to transform a vacant 28.5-acre site at The Hollies, off London Road – including the former London Boys children's camp – into a new eco-friendly holiday and leisure resort, offering luxury tents, holiday lodges and pitches for touring caravans.

The company has applied for permission to demolish a derelict building on the site and develop the surrounding land.

It also plans to put up four temporary buildings comprising of two toilet blocks, a reception area and an office, a warden's caravan, a visitors' centre, picnic areas, and a coastal footpath and cycle path, with access to the beach.

Beeston Group, which already runs several other campsites in Norfolk and Suffolk, says the new holiday park would be its biggest yet and would create a number of jobs, as well as providing facilities for local people.

However, the proposals have prompted objections – including some raised by owners of caravans on the nearby Heathland Beach Caravan Park – over possible over-development of the site, loss of privacy, potential noise disruption and fears over traffic congestion.

A report by planning officers, to be discussed by councillors on Monday, acknowledges that the site falls within the 'strategic gap' between Lowestoft and Kessingland and the key issue at stake is the balance between the holiday park's impact on this area and the economic benefits it would bring.

The report says: 'There will be additional 'spend' in the area arising from visitors and in due course about 60 additional jobs will be created and local trades will be used to service the site.'

It recommends that the application be approved, subject to certain conditions being met, and adds: 'It is considered that the economic benefits outweigh the limited visual impact.'

If the proposals win approval, Beeston Group plans to carry out the development work in phases, with the aim of opening the site for touring caravans and camping by Easter next year.