It is crunch-time for quarry campaigners as the fate of a picturesque part of the Peak District is set to be decided by the Court of Appeal.
A hearing took place on Tuesday following a lengthy battle to try and halt the rate of limestone quarrying at Backdale Quarry on Longstone Edge
Campaigners hope the Court of Appeal will rule in favour of a stricter interpretation of the old miner
al permission, taking into account the sensitive location.
The Longstone Edge Coalition, a national group of campaigning organisations, is calling on Defra to intervene if the Court of Appeal ruling does not favour an immediate halt to quarrying.
Coalition spokesperson, Ruth Chambers, acting chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks, said: "Quarries like Backdale, whose planning permission dates from the 1950s, can cause enormous environmental damage to the countryside if they are not subject to modern environmental standards. This case must now be regarded as a priority for Government intervention if landscape protection in our National Parks is not to be made a laughing stock".
John Lambert, chair of Save Longstone Edge Group, added: "The destruction is occurring at an alarming rate and you would be amazed if someone showed you the site and then told you it was in a National Park. We hope that the limestone quarrying will found to be unlawful and will be curbed immediately."
Quarry owner Bleaklow Industries Limited is able to work Backdale Quarry under an old mineral permission dating from 1952.
The controversy centres on how much limestone can be extracted while getting out the fluorspar. A previous public inquiry, which ruled this should be limited to two parts limestone to one part of fluorspar, was overturned last year in the High Court and limestone quarrying has now resumed.
