Warning £32m Hamsterley Forestry plans could put lives at risk

Plans for a £32m tourism development at Hamsterley Forest could put “lives at risk”, the Environment Agency has warned.

In the agency’s latest objection, planning specialist Lauren Hunter said that the proposal for a bunkhouse and campsite lies within a flood zone and would put in danger more than “100 people on the ground floor”.

The flood issue is just one of six objections to the Forestry England scheme which is proposing a new visitor centre, 70 eco-cabins and hot tubs, and a tree-top adventure course along with the campsite.

Ms Hunter said: “We are sustaining our objection to the Nest campsite due to the risk to life and vulnerability incompatibility with a functional floodplain, and we recommend that planning permission is refused on this basis.”

She added that the agency’s objection is unlikely to be overcome if a revised flood model is submitted, but recommended it could be overcome if the campsite was moved to a site outside identified flood zones.

The planning specialist said: “We consider the location of the campsite to have a hazard rating of “a danger for all people (eg there will be danger of loss of life for the general public and the emergency services) based on the isolated valley floor location within a steep-sided valley and rapidly responding catchment and associated flood risk.

“There is no dry safe refuge for over 100 ground floor sleeping occupants within flood zone three, and no dry safe emergency access/egress routes from the site.

“Routes out of the campsite are via forest tracks crossing or adjacent to rapidly responding watercourses which will become inundated in the frequent flood events.”

Other objections raised by the agency relate to the use of boreholes to abstract water because of a lack of a mains water supply and the potential for the pollution of surface water because of a proposal to use a non-mains foul waste drainage system.

Ms Hunter said: “We object to the application as submitted because the applicant has not supplied adequate information to demonstrate that the risks of pollution posed to surface water quality can be safely managed.

“We recommend that planning permission should be refused on this basis.”