Adventure firm may have finally won battle to build watersports park in disused quarry

A LONG battle to open a watersports centre on the outskirts of Macclesfield finally appears to be over after a fifth council vote went in its favour.

Cheshire Lakes Adventure Company has been trying to open a new facility at the former Mere Farm Quarry, Chelford, which closed in 2014, for the past four years.

The project was off, on, then off again following the first three Cheshire East Council votes in 2016, before a fourth committee rejection and an appeal defeat in 2017.

But the latest proposal was scaled down in size to address the only sticking point in the appeal decision, and at a council planning meeting on Wednesday the project was approved.

Jonathan Vose, representing Cheshire Lakes Adventure Company, said: “The applicant looked extensively for an alternative site across the north west but was not able to find a site that offered anything approaching the suitability and benefits or accessibility of the Mere Farm site.

“The inspector previously accepted that the proposed use was wholly acceptable in the green belt, she just felt that the proposed buildings were too large. We have addressed this matter directly and categorically.

“Very many residents in Chelford have expressed support for this application, and the previous ones, noting their desire to see a facility close to the village that takes people outdoors.”

Visitors will be able to take part in wakeboarding, kayaking, open water swimming, paddle boarding or tackle an inflatable assault course at the site - which had been in line for restoration as a nature reserve under the terms agreed by the quarry’s former operators.

While all previous versions of the scheme involved both the North and South Lake at Mere Farm Quarry, the latest proposal is only for the North Lake.

It means that the scheme has reduced in size by 36 per cent overall - while the buildings for storage, changing and medical facilities have been scaled down by 86 per cent.

Despite the changes, Chelford parish councillor Brian

Brindley insisted the scheme would go against the village’s local plan and cause a ‘significant loss of openness’.

He said: “This site already provides opportunities for outdoor recreational activity.”

Mr Vose told the committee that the plans included environmental mitigation that had been designed ‘in conjunction with the RSPB’.

However, Steve

Barber, from the Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society, warned councillors that the activities planned would ‘be sufficient to make the North Lake untenable for most species of waterfowl’.

Opening the debate, Councillor Steve Edgar said: “I think nature is a wonderful thing when it is given a chance to recover. Our wildlife is under serious threat throughout Cheshire East with development - and we must start paying back and looking after it.”

But Coun Ashley Farrall suggested that the water park would be a good way of getting younger residents interested in the great outdoors.