St Andrews caravan park at near capacity unveils plans to expand

The St Andrews Holiday Park is in high demand, and, after operating for years at near full capacity, the owner is looking to expand. It has asked Fife Council to consider allowing them to add a further 134 caravan pitches.

Welsh based Abbeyford Leisure Ltd is the largest holiday park operator in the region. It owns St Andrews Holiday Park alongside other parks at Shell Bay, St Monans and Kinkell Braes.

The St Andrews park is currently spread across 16 hectares of land just outside the town, and it currently has a total of 434 static caravan pitches. However, the company said the park is a “successful and long established tourist business which is a very popular destination for holiday makers.”

“The park continues to be at full capacity — averaging between 96% and 99% occupancy levels since 2017 — and there are now no other appropriate areas of land within the existing park boundaries to provide additional static holiday pitches to meet sustained demand,” the developer said in a planning statement submitted as part of the planning application.

It claims there is a “growing wait list for caravan pitches” which “cannot be satisfied through natural turnover of holiday caravans in the existing park”.

As a result, Abbeyford Leisure is asking the local authority for planning permission for a change of use of agricultural land to create an extension to the existing caravan park.

If approved, it would add an additional 134 static holiday caravan pitches and an associated caravan sales area including access roads, landscaping and site infrastructure.

“Abbeyford Leisure Ltd is committed to making a significant inward investment at St Andrews Holiday Park, which will create a further positive economic impact on the local area by generating increased holiday visitor numbers which will in turn increase spend in the local economy as well as employment opportunities,” a planning statement said.

According to Abbeyford, the existing holiday park cannot expand within its existing boundary, and there is an “unmet demand” for more holiday caravans at this “extremely popular location” overlooking St Andrews.

“The proposed extension is primarily targeted to those who wish to buy a holiday caravan and use it as a holiday home for themselves, family and friends,” the developer stated.

“At this stage, it is envisaged that 114 of the holiday caravans (85%) would be sold to private owners, with the remaining 20 holiday caravans (15%) being retained as hire fleet by Abbeyford Leisure and made available for short-term holiday lets.”

As with the existing park, Abbeyford Leisure Ltd confirmed that the new extension would be closed to holidaymakers between 1 December and 28 February each calendar year.

If the plans are approved, the new extension would cover approximately 6.4 hectares of land immediately to the south of a previous park extension.

Because of its size, the proposal is considered to be a “major development” and will face a council planning committee for approval. Fife Council will consider the application in due course.