A decision on a controversial plan to build an ambitious multi-million pound holiday village at Canaston Bridge has been delayed again.

Following advice from its independent monitoring officer, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority decided on Wednesday to postpone Monday's extraordinary meeting of the development control committee which was scheduled to discuss the Bluestone Project application.

This is the second time the the project to create a 'leading UK short break destination' has been put off. The first was in September, when at a packed public meeting in Narberth, a decision on the £61 million scheme was deferred after last minute legal advice concerning environmental issues.

After a meeting of the authority this week, monitoring officer, Mr. Roderic Morgan, said: "Following challenges from third parties after the September meeting, I sought the advice of leading counsel as to the entitlement of those Pembrokeshire County Council members on the authority to participate in the decision making process on the Bluestone application.

"I have now received that advice and, as a consequence, it will be necessary to urgently convene a meeting of the authority's standards committee to enable members to seek dispensation, if they so wish, to speak and vote at the extraordinary meeting.

"That meeting of the standards committee will be held next week to consider this one issue.

"Following this process, the National Park Authority will seek urgently to reconvene the extraordinary meeting of the development control committee to consider the Bluestone application before Christmas.

"A date for this meeting will be announced as soon as possible."

BLUESTONE RESPONSE

Said Bluestone chief executive, William McNamara, after hearing of the postponement:

"We have just been informed that the scheduled meeting of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park committee on Monday to decide the Bluestone planning application has been deferred again at the last minute. We find it hard to understand how this can happen so belatedly and it raises a host of questions and concerns in our minds.

"As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed since the last committee meeting on September 29, and we do not understand why these issues were not raised at that time rather than at this late stage just two working days before the meeting.

"Given earlier deferments, the last minute delays already experienced and now this further postponement, it is sometimes difficult not to believe that efforts are being made to prevent appointed members of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park committee voting on the Bluestone proposals on behalf of the people of Pembrokeshire. We sincerely hope this is not the case and that this will be the very last delay.

"All we ask is that each National Park member has his or her own chance to make up their mind free of external pressures and internal politics and based on their own local knowledge of the issues. These are the people who know Pembrokeshire, who have access to the facts and who have been appointed to make decisions of this kind. We would now ask that they be free to do just that without further setbacks.

"We are still confident that the National Parks committee will reach a decision on the Bluestone planning application before Christmas."

FOOTNOTE

Earlier in the week, the Council for National Parks (CNP) wrote to all authority members asking them to put National Park protection at the heart of their decision when they meet to discuss the Bluestone tourism village proposals.

Pembrokeshire County Council has already granted planning permission for a waterworld and snow centre adjacent to the holiday village.