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From the Matlock Chronicle courtesy of stu:
THE COURT of Appeal has turned down a joint bid between the Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) and a Matlock stone company to delay quarrying at two controversial sites on Stanton Moor.
Lord Justice Chadwick and Lord Justice Gage were critical of the application and said the courts should not be used as a pawn between the company and the PDNPA.
They said that asking for an adjournment in the public interest is "a subjective test because there may be other sides to what is in the public interest".
The application, which was refused on February 24, means that Stancliffe Stone will this week continue with a legal bid to overturn a 2004 ruling on the legal status of the quarries.
Peak Park chairman Tony Hams said: "We are fully prepared for this week's appeal and will vigorously defend the previous court decision that was in our favour.
"Whatever the court now decides, our efforts will be to try and end the threat of quarrying."
Stancliffe Stone manager Mike Jones said: "We have made a clear commitment to securing supply of Stanton Moor building stone and we are currently looking into all commercially viable options to Endcliffe and Lees Cross."
The appeal will consider the legal status of the quarries, if they are ruled dormant modern conditions to control their working can be imposed - including the amount of stone that can be extracted.
Villagers in Stanton in Peak are jubilant as they believe the adjournment would have opened the door to an extension at nearby Dale View quarry which is currently operative.
Parish council chairman Alan Martin said: "Why didn't the Peak Park determine whether or not Endcliffe and Lees Cross were dormant or active before considering the other option of Dale View?
"How can you negotiate a land swap when you don't know what you are swapping?"
Jim Dixon, chief executive of the Peak Park, dismissed villagers' claims that secret deals had been brokered between the authority and Stancliffe Stone as "fictitious nonsense" and described the parish council's intervention in the hearing as a "sideshow".
Mr Dixon said: "We have made it very clear to the parish councils that the views of the local people will be taken into account."
Lees Cross and Endlcliffe quarries have been the subject of a bitter dispute over quarrying rights for the last five years because of environmental reasons and their proximity to the historic Nine Ladies Stone Circle.
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