Friends of the Earth Cymru Welcomes Legend Court Pull-Out of Wales

Friends of the Earth (FOE) Cymru has today welcomed the decision by developers Legend Court to abandon plans to build a massive theme park near Newport in south east Wales.

The decision, announced today, comes after Newport County Borough Council voted to refuse planning permission for the development on 23 December of last year.

FOE Cymru had opposed the plans because it would have meant the urbanisation of a huge area of green land, including part of a site of special scientific interest and a huge increase in traffic in an already congested area. The group had also expressed doubts about the number of jobs predicted by the developers and was concerned that failure of the ambitious scheme would have left a greenfield, out-of-town site with planning permission for development.

FOE Cymru spokesman Julian Rosser commented:

"We are delighted that Legend Court have decided to drop their plans for this huge traffic generating development in Wales. It is to the great credit of Newport Council that most members are no longer prepared to accept risky major developments in blind faith.

"Although we are glad to see the back of it, we would hate to see this scheme move in its entirety to the north of England - this campaign was not just about saving a big chunk of Welsh countryside. This sort of development produces congestion, pollution and dangerous climate change that will affect us all. The developers should go back to the drawing board and think about investing their time, talent and money in sustainable development that will create jobs while protecting the environment and people's quality of life."