LEADING Ribble Valley councillors have asked for safeguards to ensure a development of luxury holiday lodges doesn't attract permanent residents.

Members spoke out after the owners of Ribblesdale Caravan Park, Gisburn, applied for a licence to operate all year, but with a condition that its log cabins can only be used for holidays.

The owners have already been granted planning permission on appeal which imposed no restrictions on the length of season. They now plan to build 62 lodges, which will be priced around £140,000 each.

But when the park's application came Ribble Valley's community committee, councillors said they were worried the site could become a permanent address for some people, which could contravene the borough's policy on new housing developments.

Coun Frank Dyson, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "The planning inspector, when granting a licence, said a condition is necessary to ensure mobile homes are not used as permanent dwellings.

"But sales notices around Gisburn for this site talk about luxury lodges for sale -- there is no mention of caravans. We need to ensure the intention of the planning inspector is carried out.

"Having permanent residents would cut across our housing policy, which specifies new homes must be affordable and built in towns and villages that are already established, not in isolated rural areas like this. Parks like this are also vital for our local tourism industry, so we don't want them used as permanent addresses."

Coun John Hill, council leader, agreed, saying: "I cannot possibly see how we can tell if someone is permanently in residence or if they say they are on holiday permanently.

"We need a close season so we can say if somebody is on site at a particular time then we can take enforcement.

"Why don't we meet the site owner? This issue is of immense public concern."

Councillors agreed to defer and delegate the decision to officers who will consult with the site owners about how they will meet he licence conditions. The site does not fall within a Green Belt area.

At the same meeting councillors also voted to restrict the number of caravans occupied permanently at Potter Ford Caravan Park, Billington, to 60. The owner had applied for a licence to turn 128 caravans into permanent homes, with 50 Council Tax paying households already classified as permanent .