Ministers fear further bid to delay Bluestone (From Western Telegraph)

Ministers fear further bid to delay Bluestone

FURTHER attempts to delay the £60 million Bluestone development would be nothing more than a deliberate attempt to threaten the viability of the project's commercial foundations, says Welsh Secretary Peter Hain.

He believes those opposing the project, 'on a case that had no real legal foundation', should view the latest judgement as the end of the line for their protests.

His message was clear - enough was enough.

But, Bluestone developers will have to wait to see if a further legal challenge is made by the Council for National Parks against the multi-million pound holiday village.

Trustees of the London-based charity will meet in a few weeks' time to decide whether to appeal to the House of Lords against the latest High Court ruling.

Three Supreme Court of Appeal judges unanimously ruled that Pembrokeshire Coast National Park's planning consent for the project, which will create 600 permanent jobs, was legal.

The judgement upheld an earlier decision at the High Court.

The drawn-out process has been criticised by Peter Hain and Junior Wales Minster, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MP, Nick Ainger.

Mr Ainger said: "It is essential that the Council for National Parks (CNP), which brought the case against the project, now accepts how important Bluestone is to Wales and Pembrokeshire and accept the Court of Appeal judgement."

The CNP has, however, found an ally in the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales. Pembrokeshire branch chairman, Mary Sinclair, believes the planning decision poses a serious threat to all National Park Authorities.

She said: "This decision has undermined the purposes for which this and all National Parks were created, and sends a signal that even our most protected areas could now be ripe for development."