Residents concern plans to construct 12 luxurious lodges value £725,000 every on clifftop vacation park that featured in Broadchurch will destroy Jurassic coast

Locals fear plans to build luxury lodges on a clifftop holiday park that featured in ITV’s Broadchurch will destroy the fragile Jurassic coast.

Work is already underway on the 12 holiday lodges, worth up to £725,000 each, at Eype Cliff near West Bay, Dorset.

But residents claim the ‘eyesore’ development will threaten the stability of the delicate cliff, which forms part of the Unesco World Heritage Site and is prone to coastal erosion.

The natural cliffs, which stand at 140ft tall and are more than 180 million years old, have lost huge chunks of rock in recent years due to being battered by bad weather. 

Campaign group Eype Environment Protection claim the owners of the park are changing what was a low-impact seasonal campsite into a ‘high-density holiday village’ with the permanent year-round lodges. 

In shots from the show, you can clearly see the cast of Broadchurch, including the tenth Doctor Who David Tennant and Academy Award winner Olivia Coleman, standing on a piece of land on the cliff which is no longer there. 

The beach chalet where Danny Latimer was murdered in the first series is nearby and is in danger of disappearing off the edge soon. 

Local landowners, the Wingfield-Digbys, who have owned and used the cabin since 1930, have tried for almost a decade to relocate the hut inland. 

But their proposal angered nearby holiday home owners who claimed the new location would obscure their sea views. 

Now locals have launched a petition in opposition to the new luxury lodges, calling for a public consultation to change the ‘outdated’ planning laws that allow developments like this to go ahead.

The petition has gathered 1800 signatures, with campaigners saying the development sets a ‘dangerous precedent’.

A spokesperson for Eype Environment Protection (EEP) said: ‘The owners promise guests the “rugged allure” and “untamed nature” of Eype.

‘Conversely, this development will clearly have a negative impact on the landscape, on village life, on nature and on our dark skies.

‘The prominent site sits only yards from the South West Coast Path, in an area where cliff-falls are a frequent occurrence. Is this fragile cliff-top the right place for a housing development?

‘Our petition expresses anger and concern about the eye-sore development and how it threatens to damage the fragile landscapes of West Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.

‘How has this been allowed to go unchallenged?’

In 2022, West Dorset Leisure Holidays, which owns the site, was granted a certificate of lawfulness from the local authority for having 35 static caravans and 31 camping pitches, which had been established for more than a decade.

Because the certificate established the caravans had been sited year-round, the company has been able to start building the lodges under permitted development rights.

The spokesperson for EEP added: ‘We believe it sets a dangerous precedent.

‘The development has been allowed without any public consultation – despite the scale of its impact on a place that is protected at the highest level.

‘The site is set within an AONB, on the Jurassic Coast (a World Heritage site). What is the point of these protective designations, if developments like this are allowed to go ahead?’

The company’s advert describes the new lodges as ‘rare opportunity to own a premium lodge in one of the most sought-after locations on the Dorset coastline.’

The first one is now up for sale at £644,995.

The two-bedroom lodge is 50ft by 20ft with an open plan kitchen and living area, a master en suite bedroom, a family bathroom with a jet bathtub and a two-person infra-red sauna. It also has a large wrap-around deck.

The advert says the season length is ten and a half months, the licence lasts until 2060, and the pitch fee will be £7,999.

A spokesperson for West Dorset Leisure Holidays said: ‘The description and details provided by the [EEP] group is misleading.

‘A number of Lawful Development Certificates were granted by Dorset Council in 2022 which sought to utilise the existing planning permissions obtained across the site and therefore, did not need any consultation nor planning applications to come forward.

‘As a company we have started the development with the first lodge being available for purchase now.

‘Over the coming years, we will be continuing with our planting and landscaping schemes at Thorncombe Heights, and the high-quality caravan lodges will be available to purchase from spring 2026.

‘As a local family and business embedded in West Dorset, we are pleased to undertake such a high-quality development.

‘West Dorset Leisure Holidays strives to maintain the environment our business is operating in and is involved in many schemes including rewilding projects, woodland planting, footpath management.

‘We have raised over £110,000 for local Jurassic Coast projects.

‘In our view, the lodges at Eype will not have a negative impact and we look forward to welcoming existing and future visitors to Eype Beach.’  

In recent years, there have also been multiple rock falls at West Bay, where tourists often ignore safety warning signs to sunbathe under the 140ft sandstone cliffs. 

They have taken a large bite out of the land at the top and brought the South West Coast Path and one of the fairways of the Bridport & West Dorset Golf Club closer to the precipice. 

In 2012, tragic holidaymaker Charlotte Blackman was crushed to death by a rockfall at Burton Bradstock. 

Last year, Geologist Richard Edmonds said he believes the rockfalls were a consequence of global warming.

He said: ‘We are experiencing extreme weather both in terms of the waves and rainfall.

‘A warmer atmosphere carries more water and more energy and that’s what drives storms. The energy in the atmosphere is transferred into wind and rain.

‘Because there is so little beach at West Bay the sea undermines the base of the cliffs so the more powerful the waves are, the more it is undermined.’

A Dorset Council spokesperson confirmed there is no open enforcement case related to the holiday park.

They said: ‘We issued a certificate of lawfulness in 2022 for 35 permanently sited static caravans and for 36 camping and motorhome pitches for holiday use.

‘A further certificate was issued in 2022 to confirm the site could operate for those numbers throughout the year and without restriction on the layout of pitches.’