Zip wire plans for Honister slate mine thrown out
HONISTER Slate Mine’s controversial proposal to build construction of a 1200m zip wire on Fleetwith Fell in Cumbria has been rejected.
The firm had applied to install what would have been the second-longest Zip Wire in the world as an attraction for thrillseekers as a way of getting more young people to visit the fells.
However, its application was rejected by the Lake District National Park Authority’s planning committee yesterday.
Landscape charity Friends of the Lake District, which had campaigned against the proposal, said that it it been proposed in one of the most environmentally-sensitive areas of the National Park, with wildlife habitats that were protected under EU rules.
Its planning officer, Richard Pearse, said: “We’re very pleased with the decision, it’s a victory for the environment, it’s victory for national parks and what the they stand for – free access to an outstanding natural landscape.
“The economic argument for this development was not overwhelming, and it should not outweigh the fundamental damage it would have caused to one of the most outstanding areas of the country.”
The company’s spokesman, Ellis Butcher, had argued that the the site has been a working mine since the Roman era.
Last week, he told TheBusinessDesk.com that it was “not the unspoilt, untouched-by-man honey pot that organisations like the Friends of the Lake District are trying to caricature it as to the media”.
“This is a battle between David and Goliath and Goliath has deeper pockets,” he said.
“Regardless of the outcome we will work keep the proud slate mining industry alive in spite of attempts by powerful authorities like this to bully it out of business.”
