Residents of a seaside community have hit out at plans to expand a holiday park.
Gillespie Leisure Ltd is bidding to add more than 120 units to Sandyhills Bay Holiday Park on the shores of the Solway.
But that has upset locals who have launched the Save Sandyhills Website in opposition to the plans.
Peter Hutchison from the group described Sandyhills as the “jewel in the crown” of the East Stewartry Coast National Scenic Area.
He said: “It multiplies the size or scale of what there is here by four or five times. It’s not tinkering at the edge, it’s a major development.
“We have got a little group together of about 30 properties with essentially unanimous support to journey through any due process with a clear statement that we’re not in favour.
“We think it would permanently destroy Sandyhills Bay, the beach and our local community as it has been for so many generations.
“We’ve lived here for 19 years and I’ve known it myself since I was a youngster. A few others in the community are long-term residents too and there has been a movement of folks coming and going through Covid and everything else.
“It’s a developing little community but it’s a hamlet rather than anything more. We’ve got very limited services.”
Documents lodged with the council by Gillespie Leisure Ltd – which runs three other holiday parks in the Stewartry – as part of a scoping request reveals they are looking to add 19 lodges, 74 static caravans and 29 pods to the existing site.
They also propose to create a new car park with nearly 200 spaces.
However, residents say it will hurt the natural habitat and increase noise and light pollution with “negligible socio-economic gains”.
Gillespie Leisure Ltd did not respond to requests to discuss the proposal.
The council has until Friday to issue a response to the scoping request.
