Countryside campaigners are celebrating the decision to throw out an appeal by developers to build a water bottling plant at Cowdale Quarry.
As reported in last week’s Advertiser the Planning Inspector dismissed Express Park Buxton’s appeal against previous planning decisions made by High Peak Borough Council.
The council rejected the developers’ plans for the five-hectare site and the creation of a new access road from the A6. Friends of the Peak District and local campaigners fought both applications.
“We are all letting out a huge sigh of relief that this much loved local green space has been saved once again from development. Plans for a huge factory in the middle of beautiful countryside were refused twice already, so we are absolutely delighted that good planning sense has prevailed again,” said Andy Tickle, Chief Executive of Friends of the Peak District.
“This is really good news, and we are all obviously very pleased with the decision of the Planning Inspector. A little bit worrying though is that the reasons for refusal other than the harm to the scheduled monument were outweighed by the supposed economic benefits of the water bottling factory.
“If the scheduled monument did not exist, the Planning Inspector may well have permitted the development,” said local resident Phil Jones.
Local people are waiting to see if this is the end of the saga at Cowdale.
“The ball is now in the developers’ court, but we hope that they will just give up and leave our countryside alone. We will be keeping a watching brief,” added Mr Tickle.
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