SNOASIS' impact on the environment will be far less than that predicted by its opponents, the developer behind the winter sports resort insisted today.

Grant Sherlock

SNOASIS' impact on the environment will be far less than that predicted by its opponents, the developer behind the winter sports resort insisted today.

Godfrey Spanner, managing director of Onslow Suffolk which is battling to convince the government to give SnOasis the final go-ahead, said the project would match the environmental measures being implemented at the London Olympics venues.

Onslow faces a deadline of early next month by which time it has to present new answers to the climate change and great crested newt problems which currently stand in the way of the £300million Great Blakenham development.

Today Mr Spanner said: “We have made great progress. It has always been part of Onslow's mission statement to be as sustainable as possible.

“Recent concerns on carbon emissions and footprint have put further constraints on development of all types and we and our engineers have gone to extreme lengths to bring to us the very latest technologies available.

“Government guidelines at present are seeking 25per cent renewable energy targets by 2020. We shall be well ahead of those long term requirements in the next few months - at least, I am convinced, on a par with the Olympic Village where obviously government are concentrating these efforts.”

Earlier this month Onslow said it was convinced new mitigation measures its ecologists had devised would allay the concerns of Natural England, which has until now warned it might not issue a licence to move protected great crested newts from the old Mason's Quarry site where the giant indoor ski slope would be built.

Critics claim SnOasis would amount to building a giant, energy hungry refrigerator which would go against all environmental objectives.

However the project's promise of delivering a massive jobs boost to the area, as well as a new train station for Great Blakenham, has won it its own fans.

Hazel Blears, the minister for communities and local government, has said she was minded to approve SnOasis as long as the environmental issues could be overcome. She is expected to hand down her decision by September 17.

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