Dråby residents fear 108 holiday homes will overwhelm their village

Residents of Dråby fear a plan for 108 large holiday homes near their village will bring heavy traffic and damage the surrounding countryside, DR reports. The proposal is still under consideration, and the homes’ number and size could change.

The planned houses, on a country road between Ebeltoft and Dråby Strand on Djursland, would each measure 180 square metres, with a 50-square-metre extension and a large terrace. Biologist Nanna Aude, who has lived in Dråby for nine years, said all traffic to the development would pass through the village.

Aude, who lives with her husband and three children, is concerned that traffic will increase on the road outside their home. She said she fears thousands of cars during the summer, autumn holidays and Christmas holidays. She plans to attend a public meeting organised by Syddjurs Municipality to learn more about the proposal.

Kasper Kolstrup Møller, chair of the municipality’s planning committee, said he understood residents’ concerns. The proposal currently sets out 108 homes, he said, but neither their number nor their size is final.

Holiday homes of more than 200 square metres are increasingly common across Denmark. DR’s review found more than 3,000. They are typically rented to large groups, including extended families, groups of friends and school classes.

In Marielyst Ferieby, a holiday-home area on southern Falster, Frank Kammer Hansen and his wife, Vivi, sold their house and moved after ten pool houses were built about 25 metres from their property. The couple had spent 15 years there before the municipality approved the new houses in 2019. The first were built in 2020.

Hansen said the new houses brought noise and arguments between guests. The couple moved two years later, but the dispute between the new owners and the original residents has continued, with decisions from appeals boards and, most recently, an arbitration tribunal this year.

Residents of Fjellerup, a village on northern Djursland, have had a more positive experience with 18 large holiday homes built there about a year ago. Borgerforening chair Niklas Gorecki said most residents welcomed the extra visitors and the potential for more jobs.

Syddjurs Municipality’s council is due to decide on the Dråby proposal in December, after the public consultation period ends. Aude hopes politicians will consider whether the municipality wants tourism at any cost.