Lake District wins Elterwater Quarry attraction judicial review
Opposition to the national park authority’s approval of an underground heritage tour with ziplines was centred around one specific part of planning law: the Sandford Principle.
The Sandford Principle essentially argues that national parks are meant to provide public enjoyment as well as preserve a landscape. When these two ideas conflict, planning authorities should side in favour of landscape conservation.
The Friends of the Lake District group had filed a judicial review against the Lake District National Park stating that it had erred in its interpretation and misled members regarding the Sandford Principle when examining Burlington Stone and Zip World’s plans to turn Elterwater Quarry into an attraction where visitors would learn about the mining process while navigating the cavern via a zip line.
They argued that the development’s approval was in clear violation of the Sandford Principle and that committee members had not been properly made aware of that fact prior to voting.
A judge disagreed, upholding the Lake District National Park Authority’s decision from May 2024 to approve the scheme.
The judge also dismissed another complaint that the park authority’s planning committee had been offered misleading advice regarding the impact increased traffic would have on the area.
Steve Ratcliffe, director of sustainable development at the park authority, welcomed the judicial review verdict.
He said: “Whilst we are pleased with the result and respect the right of any person or organisation to challenge the decisions made by the LDNPA through judicial review proceedings, we are disappointed that the application came before the High Court without any engagement with pre-action protocols or notification, resulting in significant costs for both the authority and Friends of the Lake District.”
To learn more about Burlington Stone and Zip World’s plans for the quarry, search application reference 7/2023/5767 on the Lake District National Park’s planning portal.
Zip lines and rock walls.. not a combination I would have thought a natural pairing… I await the first trapped school party with anticipation
By Anonymous
Not sure why anyone would want to zip 100ft around a dark brown wet hole.. there’s no gold down there!
By Ooer..
Imagine an industrial site being used for a different industry. Well done LDNPA, you”be done something good (although a stuck clock is right twice a day. And typical FoLD, an increasingly irrelevant organisation, trying to prevent any sort of progress in the Park.
By Anonymous