England Lionesses star Beth Mead voices fears over holiday chalets plans at Hinderwell, near Whitby

England footballer Beth Mead, pictured at Whitby's Boxing Day Dip, is opposed to the building of holiday chalets in her home village of Hinderwell.

The scheme by Deepdale Cove Limited to transform 1.7 hectares of agricutural land south west of Hinderwell’s High Street into a holiday chalet park has met with numerous objections from residents of the village.

They say the scheme would damage the community in numerous ways, including pushing up property prices for families and worsening traffic issues in the north east of the North York Moors National Park.

Now, in a letter to the national park’s planning committee, Mead – who plays her club football for Arsenal ladies – has asked the authority to reject the plans.

Beth Mead guided England Lionesses to Euro 22 glory - now she is defending her home village from plans to build a holiday chalet park there.picture: Getty images

The 28-year-old, who won BBC Sports Personality of the Year after guiding England to Euro 22 victory, said: “I know the proposed site well, it is an area of outstanding beauty which has always been home to lots of wildlife and habitat.

"It would be such a shame to destroy it.”

She explained that the village's High Street was always very busy when she returned to the family home.

"Traffic through the High Street is horrendous, especially in the summer, and this site would create even more mayhem.”

She said hers and her brother Ben’s cars had been damaged parked in the High Street opposite the proposed site.

“We already have more than enough holiday accommodation in Hinderwell,” she added.

Her dad Richard said he found it “hard to believe that the parks would even contemplate” allowing the plans to go ahead – and that he was debating whether he wanted to live in “our not-so-quiet village” any more, especially if the development went through.

Agents behind the planning application have stated that both national and local planning policy is supportive of tourism developments in rural areas.

The papers state: “Hinderwell is a sought-after holiday accommodation destination, benefitting from its close proximity and good public transport links with Staithes, Runswick Bay and Whitby.”

The full proposal would see use of land for the siting of 12 chalets for holiday letting purposes with associated internal access track, parking, bin store, landscaping works and amenity space.

People have until March 14 to comment on the scheme.