A park site at Littleport wants to add a further 10 holiday lodges to cope with rocketing demand for staycations.

Riverside Caravan Park already has permission for 49 homes but believes a neighbouring one-acre field is ideal for the extra homes.

“Covid-19 has had seen a significant shift in demand for holidays,” it has told East Cambs Planners.

“Most people in the UK are choosing a ‘staycation’ instead of holidaying abroad.

“This situation is expected to last for several years, as the barriers to foreign holidays (largely based around uncertainty, risk of losing money, cost and availability of hotels and flights) are not going to be all removed in the short term.

“Expectations are that the process could take five years.”

Riverside quotes statistics that show that UK holidays saw year-over-year growth of over 500 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.

“It is uncertain how quickly international travel will recover following Covid-19 as there are many factors influencing decisions to travel.

“For the UK public, factors most affecting decisions to travel included having a vaccine, not having to quarantine, and declining global case numbers.

“Staycations within the UK remain a likely popular option until these factors are met, and the expectation is that UK holidays will remain more popular than they were pre-Covid.”

It adds that “international unrest will also not help in the recovery of overseas holidays, and high-profile problems at UK airports continue to dominate national news

“Four in five UK residents planned/took a staycation in 2021, and consumer research suggests it will continue beyond that as Brits settle into new holiday habits post pandemic”.

Riverside says it wants to build on the success of the existing caravan site through a “modest expansion” of the site onto this additional land, with an additional 10 holiday lodge units.

“The proposals would provide additional tourist accommodation through a change of use of redundant agricultural land -a former potato growing field- allowing for the siting of up to 10 no. independent single luxury holiday lodge units (40ft x 13ft).

Riverside says each new lodge would have adequate parking and the new site would be landscaped to blend in with their existing lodges.

Riverside Caravan Park is New River Bank, Littleport, Ely CB7 4TA.