Plans for water park at derelict quarry refused

The proposed water park would include a spa, sports complex and more than 600 underground parking spaces

Plans for a water park resort in a derelict Derbyshire quarry have been rejected following hundreds of objections.

The plans, from BMET Limited, would have seen Crich Quarry turned into the Amber Rock resort, complete with a 152-room hotel, 210 apartments and a cliff-top restaurant.

However, following a Derbyshire County Council planning meeting on Monday, the application was promptly and unanimously rejected in line with officer recommendations due to seven core reasons.

The developer confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it will be submitting a "vigorous" planning appeal in a bid to overturn the refusal.

Tony Mills told the meeting that the scheme would leave behind "danger, pollution and destruction" throughout the five-year construction period

The reasons given for refusal were the "unacceptable adverse impact on heritage assets, landscape, ecology and local amenity" along with the highway network and the lack of sufficient information in all categories to be able to support any form of approval.

More than 700 objections were filed, most from campaign group Residents Opposed to Amber Rock.

Tony Mills, on behalf of the group, said: "We are very pleased and delighted. We have 650 members in our group, and we spoke as a community with one voice."

When asked about the applicant's intention to appeal, Mr Mills said: "We will play the match in front of us. If they appeal, we will deal with it. The applicants have misjudged it, they don't seem to get it.

"It is inappropriate where they want to put it."

The applicant says the site could be mined up until 2042 and that this would be the fallback position if the water park resort is not approved

Ian Clarke, on behalf of the applicants, said: "The planning committee formed an opinion based on missing information."

He said this included the existing "extant" planning permission for the quarry, allowing further mining to be carried out, that the current restoration was deemed "undeliverable" in 2009 and that Amber Valley Borough Council (AVBC) should have been the authority to deal with the scheme.

Mr Clarke claimed there was a "crystal clear" case for the matter to be dealt with by the borough, but that the county said the application involved the "winning and working" of materials.

He said: "Hopefully the grown-ups will want to talk about it, and whether they do or don't, we will vigorously appeal.

"There has been a miscarriage of procedure and we want to bring it back in line.

"We will also attempt to resume quarrying at Crich."

County council officials said they were confident that they should deal with the application and had agreed this with AVBC.

A spokesperson said: "For this particular development, all aspects of the proposal were considered at the meeting and the earlier site visit, and the committee concluded that the application should be refused for several reasons.

"Due to a lack of information provided to support the proposals, it has not been demonstrated that the development would not result in significant harm caused to road safety, heritage and protected species and habitats."