The Peak District National Park Authority held an emergency meeting yesterday after it emerged a planned public inquiry into the controversial extraction of limestone at Backdale quarry, Longstone Edge, by quarry operators MMC Mineral Processing Ltd and landowners Bleaklow Industries Ltd could be cancelled just days before it is due to go ahead.
The Government's Planning Inspectorate is assessing whether a recent case in Wales, where enforcement action was declared null because of uncertainty, could apply at Backdale, where the authority has served the operators with a "stop notice". Other enforcement actions across the country could also be affected.
The move came at a crucial time for the National Park Authority because a public inquiry into the quarry operators' appeal against enforcement action is due to resume on April 4.
If the Welsh case is held to apply at Backdale, the public inquiry will be cancelled and the limestone quarrying which is in dispute could resume.
This made it a matter of urgency for the National Park Authority to plan a course of action to prevent what campaigners claim is further irreversible damage to the Peak District landscape on Longstone Edge, near Bakewell.
Yesterday deputy chairwoman Hilda Gaddum won unanimous support for her proposal to issue new enforcement and stop notices, and to seek High Court clarification of Backdale's original 1952 planning permission, in the event of an adverse decision from the Planning Inspectorate.