Anti-quarry campaigners fighting to stop controversial workings in the Peak District have taken their battle to Parliament.
West Derbyshire MP Patrick McLoughlin has thrust the campaign against operations at Backdale Quarry near Bakewell into the national spotlight after introducing a debate to Parliament.
Members of the Save Longstone Edge Group (SLEG) – who claim the
national park landscape is being illegally 'decimated' by quarry bosses – travelled to the capital as Mr McLoughlin scheduled an adjournment debate at Westminster Hall on Tuesday.
The move came just two days after a live discussion of the issue at Calver Village Hall was aired as part of the BBC Politics Show.
Malcolm Wootten, a spokesman for the campaign, said: "A delegation of SLEG supporters attended to draw further attention to our campaign and the Government's refusal to take it seriously."
Mr McLoughlin called on the Government to close a legal loophole which allows operators working under a 1950s planning permission – such as at Backdale – to carry on without the modern environmental restrictions imposed on other sites.
Peak District National Park Authority chiefs have been locked in a long-running legal battle with operators MMC Ltd amid claims they are extracting too much limestone from the site.
