PLANS for a £350 million Olympic-class “snowdome” are meeting some Olympic-class opposition. A public inquiry is expected in January into SnOasis, just outside Ipswich, which could also double as a centre of excellence for international athletes of all sports.
A group of about 240 activists have started by raising £100,000 to hire lawyers to press home claims that the development would be an environmental disaster.
Their campaign will not be hurt by support from Viscount Blakenham, whose estate backs on to the site. As one of the nation’s top environmentalists, he is a former chairman of the trustees at Kew Gardens and leading light in the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
However, Godfrey Spanner, chairman of Onslow Suffolk, the developer, plans to question personally his opponents at the inquiry and will tell them that he is setting aside a wildlife sanctuary and is spending tens of thousands of pounds protecting a rare species of bat on the site, a disused quarry. He has already won one legal judgment over Viscount Blakenham over permission to use a road around the area. It promises to be a long war.