Bluestone Indoor Snow News

This summer will see the opening of a £110m new holiday complex that its owners say will redefine UK holidays. When it opens on June 30, the site will boast an indoor water park, a sports centre and luxurious spa, with work on a £25m snow dome getting under way in 2009.

The £100million Bluestone development, due to open later this year, will offer visitors a unique holiday experience in luxury log cabins, cottages and apartments set within 500 acres around a traditional Welsh village, providing leisure, retail, catering and other support services to guests.

Onsite facilities include the Lagoon water park, the first indoor swimming pool in the UK to be heated by renewable biomass crops grown by local farmers, a sports pavillion, snow dome, cycle tracks, woodland walks and golf driving range.

[Full article on www.newswales.co.uk]

The 500-acre site will include the Blue Lagoon waterpark, which will feature the UK’s biggest indoor wave, a sports centre and a £25m snow dome, though construction does not begin on the latter until 2009.

Work has begun on the £110m Bluestone eco-resort project in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Bluestone aims to become the first of a new generation of holiday village, catering for the more discerning visitor and targeting the higher end of the market. It will be one of the UK’s only holiday villages located in a coastal location and in a national park.

The development of the 1 million sq ft leisure, retail and holiday accommodation proposals, set in 500 acres, is being built around a central village.

The development will include a 4,000sq m waterpark, a health and fitness centre, health spa and a sports club.

Other facilities will include a snow centre and guests will be able to enjoy a range of adventure sports, such as climbing, abseiling, cliff jumping, white water rafting, jet skiing and water skiing.

Accommodation will be provided by 335 luxury log cabins set in woodland as well as 30 two bedroom terraced cottages and 30 fully serviced open plan studio apartments.

Bluestone hopes that the development will attract up to 100,000 visitors annually while the sites two all-weather facilities are each anticipated to attract an additional 250,000 day visitors a year.

Andrew Davies, minister for enterprise, innovation and networks said: “It is the ultimate indigenous sustainable business. The concept was conceived in Wales – it is being developed in Wales, delivered by Welsh people, provide jobs for local people, benefit Welsh businesses and promote our distinct Welsh culture and heritage internationally.

“This is a flagship project for Wales, which will set new standards of quality and become a beacon for eco-tourism and sustainable development within the UK.”

The project will receive £14.5million in grant aid from the Welsh Assembly Government and £4m investment from Finance Wales, alongside an initial £41million cash funding package from Mansford Holdings Plc and Bank of Scotland Corporate.

Further funding is provided by equity investors William McNamara and Sir Edward Dashwood, and Pembrokeshire County Council is providing a loan. Together, the investment will bring wide reaching, long term benefits to Wales.

[From Leisure Property]

Work on the £110m ($200m) Bluestone holiday village in Pembrokeshire, Wales has begun after a series of legal battles over the development went right through to the highest British court, the House of Lords. This has delayed the project approximately two year from the planned date.

Bluestone is expected to create 300 building and then 600 employee jobs and inject £32m ($55m) a year into the local economy. It is receiving £18.5m ($30m) in government grant aid and has raised a further £41m in finance to get started. It is expected to open from June 2008.

Work on the second phase of Bluestone including a 250m indoor snow ski slope and an ice rink at aa cost of $25m ($45m) will commence later with a proposed opening date of 2009. This would be the first Welsh indoor snow centre to open and the UK’s sixth to be operational at that time.

The first phase of the project will feature a stone-built village; 335 high quality log cabins; 30 cottages; 30 studio apartments and a water park.

Bluestone will utilise renewable energy on a commercial scale and will build an energy visitor centre, aiming to place Wales at the forefront of sustainable technology in the UK. The centre will be an important educational resource for schools and industry. Other eco-tourism initiatives include conserving and enhancing habitats, landscape, geological and archaeological resources on site; as well as promoting responsible eco-adventure through partnering off site.

Bluestone expect that the high quality holiday village will bring in up to 100,000 new high-value staying visitors annually, while the two new all-weather facilities - water world and snow centre - are each expected to attract 250,000 day visitors a year, with the capacity to accommodate a million visitors.

If you're interested in how Bluestone won it's case, that went as far as the Supreme Court of Appeal, read on.

As part of a rolling programme of investment, Bluestone will also open a £25m snowdome - with a 250-metre slope and ice rink - in 2009.

We've been reporting on the proposals for an indoor slope in Pembroke, Wales since 2002, but it seems the development is now moving forwards:

Bluestone, a unique £110million green holiday village in the heart of West Wales launched today, will have a major economic impact on the region, creating 900 full time jobs, boosting local businesses and injecting £32m into the economy annually.

That was the message of Andrew Davies, Minister for Enterprise, Innovation and Networks today when he and Bluestone Chief Executive William McNamara, officially launched the project and said work would start immediately.

Bluestone anticipate the high quality holiday village will bring in up to 100,000 new high value staying visitors annually, while the two new all weather facilities, a sub tropical water world and snow centre, are each anticipated to attract 250,000 day visitors a year, with the capacity to accommodate a million.

Read the rest of the article on News Wales.

IC Wales reports that:

Cardiff's glittering Millennium Centre to Swansea's Marina where a New York-style skyscraper will be built next year, the face of Wales is changing quickly.

Now part of Pembrokeshire will take on a different look after a judge decided the vast Bluestone Holiday Park was lawfully given planning permission earlier this year.

Over the next two to three years, a vast tri-laminated glass dome will rise from the countryside around Narberth.

The atmosphere inside will be sub-tropical and entrepreneur William McNamara who dreamed up the scheme believes thousands of visitors will be beating a path along the M4 to the spa pools, artificial rivers and children's rides basking in the warmth.

There will also be a £30m-a-year glow for the South-West Wales economy.

That is the amount experts believe Bluestone, with its Waterworld dome, hundreds of timber lodges and an accompanying Snowdome for ski lovers, will pump into the local economy.

Add on 600 full-time jobs plus 300 "spin-off" jobs and it is easy to see why Welsh Secretary Peter Hain welcomed the judge's decision with open arms yesterday with his comments echoed by Assembly Economic Minister Andrew Davies.

The so-called Battle of Bluestone stemmed from a classic countryside versus commerce dilemma.

The Council for National Parks which challenged the legality of planning permission for the planned giant holiday complex argued that none our country parks would be safe if Bluestone was approved.

It would, they said, kill the golden goose.

But High Court judge Mr Justice Jack, overseeing a complex and often mystifying judicial review of the whole Bluestone planning process while sitting in Swansea, accepted an important point.

Lawyers for the Bluestone team made it clear that county councillors were placed on park authorities in Britain precisely so they could represent local people's views.

The judge was told that while national park authorities had a duty to protect ancient landscapes, it was an important principle that local economies had to be taken into account too.

While the breathtaking forests and coastal paths of Pembrokeshire are a draw for tourism, the area still suffers so much unemployment it is an Objective One area.

While commerce should not always take precedence over country issues, in this case allowing Bluestone to go ahead is the right decision because of the need for new employment.

The Bluestone project is a world-class project which would lift tourism in Wales into anew era.

IC Wales reports:

The immediate future of the £60m Bluestone holiday village, which promises up to 900 jobs and £32m a year for the Pembrokeshire economy, will be known in the next few weeks.

A High Court judge sitting in Swansea for the past three days has been hearing a legal challenge to planning approval for the vast project granted in January by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.

Watchdog body the Council for National Parks (CNP), which challenged the decision, claims Bluestone might set a precedent which could see other national treasures such as Snowdonia or the Yorkshire Dales being built on.

Mr Justice Jack, who reserved his decision yesterday, promised a verdict soon, due to intense public interest in the scheme.

The CNP argued that because Pembrokeshire County Council had previously approved Bluestone and pledged £1m towards it, county councillors sitting on the coastal park authority were "subconsciously biased" in favour of the project.

The three-day hearing has been full of planning law jargon, something acknowledged by Mr Justice Jack yesterday.

Asking barristers if he should return to Swansea to read out his decision or merely hand out a written document he warned, "It will be repetitive and full of law and for many people listening, probably boring."

The barristers agreed just to have the document.

A decision is expected in either late December or early January with Mr Justice Jack promising to deliver his judgment quickly.

After the final day of the hearing yesterday, Ruth Chambers, head of policy at the CNP denied the legal action was a "delaying tactic".

She said, "Far from it. We intend to stop Bluestone within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park because it would set a very dangerous precedent.

"Other developers could point to this if it was given approval and our national parks could be in danger of development when they should be sacrosanct.

"If the outcome goes against us we could possibly appeal against the judge's decision.

"If the planning permission is quashed it remains to be seen if the developers will persevere.

"If they do it would then be back in the planning process and we could make our objections known at that stage."

Entrepreneur William McNamara, co-founder of the successful Oakwood Park tourist attraction and who is behind Bluestone, said yesterday he would reserve comment until after the judge's decision.

The ambitious plans for Bluestone which involve a Waterworld attraction, a hi-tech snowdome artificial skiing centre plus hundreds of log cabins in rolling countryside is a classic economy versus conservation dilemma.

Patrick Clarkson QC, acting for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, pointed out that the authority contained councillors because they reflected local opinion.

He said it was part of their role to temper the authority's primary focus, which was one of conservation, by advocating the needs and wishes of local people.

In his closing speech yesterday, barrister David Wolfe for the CNP said reasonable and fair minded people could perceive bias among councillors on the authority because their own council had pledged £1m to the scheme.

He added that the question of the jobs which would be created by Bluestone was not a new issue.

Mr Wolfe said local planning policies did not give jobs priority over the environment.

IC Wales reports on the legal challenge that might kill off the Welsh Bluestone indoor slope project in Pembrokeshire. Most of the argument seems to centre around environmental issues and the use of National Park land. The report reads:

THE future of the £60m Bluestone holiday village project in West Wales will be decided at a High Court hearing later this month.

Despite the plan having planning consent from both Pembrokeshire County Council and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, environmental umbrella organisation, the Council for National Parks, has mounted a legal challenge to the development.

Leave has been granted for a judicial review against Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, and a High Court hearing is scheduled to be held in Swansea from November 23-25.

The charitable trust body, of which Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority is a member, believes the Bluestone scheme breaks precedent, as it will be partially sited on national park land.

However, Bluestone argues that there are examples of similar developments in other UK national parks, including a holiday village at Longleat.

After a protracted scrutiny, the park authority gave its consent to the project back in January - the local authority had given its support in the summer of 2003.

The project, which straddles land under the planning jurisdiction of both bodies, is being spearheaded by local entrepreneur William McNamara.

Bluestone promises to create 500 permanent jobs and will feature 340 timber lodges, a waterworld and snowdome.

Yesterday it was confirmed that Bluestone has signed up to the Green Dragon environmental management standard.

The leisure development at Narberth aims to achieve internationally recognised environmental accreditation through the standard, which has been developed by Wales' environmental consultants Arena Network.

Arena Network business environment adviser for Pembrokeshire, Paul Owen, said, "This is an indication of the very real commitment that Bluestone has to environmental issues and is a great boost to the Green Dragon standard, which aims to certify over 100 companies throughout Pembrokeshire within the next two years.

"It is a clear statement by the Bluestone developers about their commitment to the environment and wider sustainability issues," he added.

"Coupled with an undertaking to encourage green practices throughout its extensive supply and partnership chain, this will hopefully attract even more companies in Pembrokeshire to sign up."

The standard is a five-step approach to achieving a world-class environmental management system.

It establishes a formal system that ensures companies have annually updated environmental policies and that they comply with relevant environmental legislation.

Companies also have to demonstrate anti-pollution measures and commit to continuous environmental improvement.

Bluestone chief executive Mr McNamara said, "Bluestone is a holiday experience close to nature and this drives the need to develop a facility that benefits its environment.

"Sustainability and environ- mental empathy have been central to the Bluestone philosophy from the early design stages through to completion of the environmental impact assessment, our own environmental policy and the management plan.

"We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and signing up for the Green Dragon standard is the next step in demonstrating this commitment."

JB sent us this news on the Pembrokeshire project.

Work is due to commence in May 2004 on the project. Over 600 new jobs will be created. Some "save the bumbble bee" tree huggers are possibly going to appeal against the desion in January 2004. No news on slopes and events such as specialist boarder nights, but I'm doing my best to get as much info as possible. Wait out...

We're assuming the work will be planning and design, rather than actual construction, but it does look like it's moving forwards.

The word on the street is that the Pembrokeshire Park has been given
the go ahead. The latest news is that the complex will be called Bluestone and all authorities have given the plan the go ahead. However, expect the tree huggers to have one last go at spoiling it.

[From Johno]

The latest rumours on the Pembrokeshire indoor slope is that all local authorities have given the green light apart from the county park authority. Apparently, they say the camp isn't "green enough". The developers behind the camp are however are losing money at a alarming rate and believe the only way to get their money back is to keep pushing the idea on.

[Johno sent us this from a reliable source]

The indoor slope for Pembrokeshire in the area of Oakwood Pleasure Park is still being pushed for by the land owners. However, recent intelligence indicates that the local council have put the idea on hold. The slope would be surrounded by holiday houses and would create numerous jobs for the area if it were to go ahead.

IC Wales reports of plans to create a world-class £45m tourism and leisure development in the heart of Pembrokeshire, endorsed by a multi-million-pound support package from the National Assembly.

The giant all-weather Bluestone destination near Narberth, to include a holiday village, sub-tropical water park and real-snow ski slope, is
expected to create 600 year-round jobs and has an estimated opening date of late 2004.

Read the full article at IC Wales