Ministers have given provisional approval for the Army to test a controversial new weapons system in the North-East.
The decision will allow the Ministry of Defence to develop the Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland for two pieces of military hardware. The conditional approval will allow the MoD to lay 16 kilometres of new roads through part of the Northumberland National Park for the testing of the 45-tonne AS90 gun and the Multi Launch Rocket System.
Conservation charity the Council for National Parks (CNP) strongly condemned the decision, claiming it would ''open the floodgates to other kinds of damaging activity in the next ten years''.
But the MoD said plans to upgrade the roads system to cope with the heavy, tracked vehicles was designed to protect, not harm, the environment. A spokeswoman said: ''The Army is not in the business of destroying the countryside."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article