A PLANNING inquiry opened today (September 9) into a South Lakeland attraction which was refused retrospective permission for a cheetah enclosure.
Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) planners rejected the application from Predator Experience for the home built for its group of three cheetahs at Ayside, near Grange-over-Sands.
Planning inspector Gloria McFarlane will decide whether the owners Dee and Daniel Ashman are allowed to keep the pen.
In December last year the LDNPA turned down the application on the grounds of the effect the development had on the character and appearance of the landscape.
The owners appealed the decision on the grounds that the enforcement notice was not properly served on everyone with an interest in the land and the time given to comply with the notice was too short.
Following the hearing at the LDNPA head office at Murley Moss, Kendal, the inspector was being taken on a site visit.
It could take up to five weeks for a decision to be reached.
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