An award winning holiday accommodation business in Horning which caters for the disabled said it will be forced to close its doors after the Broads Authority refused it permission to allow a manager to live on site in a boathouse.
King Line Cottages, which consists of six holiday homes overlooking the River Bure, applied for permission to use the first floor of a boathouse for residential accommodation.
The Broads Authority refused the application saying it contravened certain policies. The authority also questioned why the manager could not live in alternative accommodation.
King Line Cottages owner Robert King Esq MBE said the refusal was despite 97 letters of support. He now had no option but to close down and sell the business at the end of the year. 'This decision has been very hard to make, for I was awarded an MBE in 2011 for services to tourism and the elderly and disabled,' he said.
Mr King said they had hired a full time manager in June last year as he and his wife wanted to retire. It was important the manager be housed on site to assist in emergencies and look after disabled customers needs as he said the access road flooded frequently in winter and sometimes in summer.
Five of the six cottages at King Line have been awarded an English Tourist Board accessibility rating making it one of the largest groups of holiday homes on the Norfolk Broads to integrate wheel chair users, disabled and elderly holiday makers with the able bodied.
Andrea Long, Broads Authority director of planning and resources, said: 'We know the business was advertised on property search sites at the end of last year for just under £3m so understand there is an intention to sell. A new dwelling would increase the sale value but the recent application was refused by members in April on two grounds. Firstly it contravenes national government policy to avoid siting new homes in areas at risk of flooding and the Environment Agency lodged an objection on this basis. Additionally members concluded that a manager could live in one of the existing cottages on site or in the village as they had successfully done for decades.'
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