Bluestone Project Decision Due

Submitted by TimPrevett on Tuesday, 09 December 2003 Page Views: 5749

Decision day for leisure village
Plans for the controversial Bluestone leisure development in west Wales are due to be decided at a planning meeting. The £45m Bluestone all-weather leisure village, planned for land near Narberth, in Pembrokeshire, includes plans for 140 holiday lodges and a sports village.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority's planners meet in Narberth on Monday to consider the scheme.

Its officers have recommended it be rejected. Pembrokeshire Council, however, has already given outline planning permission for the scheme, which would create 600 jobs.

This is a phenomenal opportunity for Pembrokeshire
William McNamara, Bluestone project
Some campaigners opposed to the scheme have already threatened legal action if the Bluestone project is approved.

William McNamara, chief executive of the Bluestone scheme, said that environmental concerns were central to the plans for the holiday village.

"Anything that we intend to do in terms of development will actually enhance ecology very considerably," he said.

"We are not cutting any trees down.

'Positive decision'

"We will be planting some 80,000 trees - this is a phenomenal opportunity for Pembrokeshire.

"I just hope we come out with a positive decision."

But Graham Taylor, a hospitality industry consultant, who also runs cottages in north Pembrokeshire, said he had reservations over the Bluestone plans.

He added: "I hope that the National Parks will refuse permission.

"We are not convinced that there is a market sufficiently large for the project to achieve the achieve the occupancies they are targeting."

Under the Bluestone proposals, some log cabins would be built on land within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and there have been concerns raised about both their location and style.

The authority has already previously deferred its decision saying it needed more time to gather information about the project.

Story from BBC News

Contributor Bio for TimPrevett: Based in Warrington, contributing since 2012. Favourite site: Taversoe Tuick. Occupation: Creative Media.

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