Plans for 68 holiday lodges at St Genevieve Lakes, in Timworth, near Bury St Edmunds, abandoned

Plans for holiday lodges at the site of a former quarry near Bury St Edmunds have been abandoned – more than five years after they were submitted.

The St Genevieve Lakes plans – for 68 lodges with parking, landscaping, waste and recycling areas along with a construction compound/maintenance area – were submitted to West Suffolk Council in March 2020.

The development, withdrawn this week, would have formed phase one of a the wider St Genevieve Masterplan for the site in Timworth, on the road from Bury Road to the B1106, which was adopted in December 2017.

The scheme, by applicant Mr Stennett, would also have included 136 car parking spaces, while it was estimated the site would employ two full-time and 18 part-time staff.

The Stennett family took on the former sand and gravel quarry after extraction operations stopped in 2014, and spent the intervening years planting and remediating the site.

A planning statement, submitted to West Suffolk Council in 2020, said: “The family are committed to developing the site and bringing to the local area the employment, environmental, tourism and economic benefits.”

The site is allocated for leisure, recreation and tourism within the local plan.