THE Friends of Pembrokeshire National Park has jumped to the defence of the watchdog, which is embroiled in a Bluestone legal battle with the authority.

The charity's executive committee has spoken out - 16-months after legal proceedings began into the £60 million holiday village - in favour of the Council for National Parks' (CNP) action.

Friends' chairman, Brian Powdrill, told the Western Telegraph that the chairman of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, Councillor Stephen Watkins, should not be surprised by the CNP's decision to seek leave for a further appeal to the House of Lords in the Bluestone case.

He said: "In the first place, although the promise of local jobs is important, this is not merely a local matter. A major part of the proposed development lies within the National Park with impact on its landscape and environment.

"National Parks were created in the national interest to protect the best of our countryside and landscape. Any major development should, therefore, be subjected to the closest scrutiny."

The chairman said there was a general agreement that this would be a major development - probably the largest on a green field site in a National Park within the UK.

"If Bluestone is allowed there is great concern that pressure will increase for comparable developments in other National Parks," he explained.

"It is strongly arguable that CNP, which works across England and Wales at national, regional and local levels, and whose Council of membership comprises over 40 national and local organisations, would be failing in its primary mission if it did not pursue objections to Bluestone through all legal channels."

Mr Powdrill added that it is in the public interest that the rules governing major development proposals in National Parks were made absolutely clear.

According to the committee, Cllr Watkins, should not be surprised by the action since the Park Authority acted contrary to its own properly established policy, which is designed to carry out the primary purpose of protecting the National Park.

"Furthermore it overturned the unequivocal advice of its own officers to refuse the application on the grounds that it does not meet the statutory purposes set out in the Environment Act, backed up by local and national planning policies," Mr Powdrill explained.

"CNP is fighting Bluestone in the courts, but it is already evident that the interpretation of the current legal framework may be inadequate to protect our National Parks. Government policy directives and financial decisions by the Welsh Assembly Government threaten to undermine the priority previously given to environmental protection."

He added that the role of the Welsh Assembly in particular, raised considerable doubt as to its real, as opposed to its declared, support for National Parks in Wales.

"The Bluestone decision, and the way it has been reached, shows the real need at national and local level for individuals and organisations to be vigilant in support of the main purpose of National Parks," he said.

The Friends of Pembrokeshire National Park is an independent voluntary charity committed to help protect, conserve and enhance the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for all to enjoy.