'Glamping' pod plans at Byron's Newstead Abbey criticised
"Glamping" pods could damage the character of Lord Byron's ancestral home, a civic society has warned.
Nottingham City Council is applying for planning permission to build six wooden luxury camping cabins in the grounds of Grade-I listed Newstead Abbey.
It said the plan will bring in money to the home which is on English Heritage's at risk register.
Ian Wells from Nottingham Civic Society said it may encourage more development near the 12th Century building.
"I sympathise with the council wanting to maximise income there because it's very much a threatened place at the moment," he said.
"But I worry about how intrusive this will be.
"There's a great deal of space there for expansion and if demand seems to suggest it, it might be very difficult to resist that sort of established use."
Newstead Abbey, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, has cost the authority more than £500,000 to run over the last five years.
But portfolio holder for culture and leisure David Trimble said costs have been reduced to a stage where the council can now invest in the park.
He said: "The addition of accommodation will help generate new income to further develop this wonderful site."
The wooden pods could house a total of 16 holidaymakers in search of luxury camping, known as "glamping", in Monk's Wood.
Gedling Borough Council is due to debate the £150,000 plan this month. If approved, work could start in the spring.
Byron at Newstead
- Newstead Abbey, originally an Augustinian Priory, was founded in the 1160s
- The Byrons lived there for nearly 300 years before it was inherited by George Gordon in 1798
- Byron loved his ancestral home, once saying he and the house "would stand or fall together"
- However, he was forced to sell it for £94,500 to help pay off his debts