SOUTH West Water has been accused of 'arrogance' for making another attempt to develop facilities at Burrator Reservoir.

Dartmoor Preservation Association says SWW is 'flying in the face' of public opinion over its re-application to convert the historic Burrator Lodge into a café, interpretation room, flat and rangers' office.

The company also wants to demolish an important early corrugated iron building to make way for new toilets and a car park.

It says the scheme will improve access to a 'beautiful location'.

A similar application was rejected by Dartmoor National Park authority last March. It said commercial use of the lodge and the visual impact of the development would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the park, and would be contrary to the Devon Structure Plan, Dartmoor's local plan and the advice of the Environment Minister.

An appeal by SWW failed in January because the development was said to be 'unacceptably damaging' to the lodge, although inspector Colin Thompson's general approval of the scheme angered campaigners.

SWW said it was obliged to provide public access to its sites and had a lot of support for its 'low key' development.

Dartmoor Preservation Association's chief executive John Bainbridge said: 'SWW are gluttons for punishment. It just shows how overwhelmingly arrogant they are to fly in the face of such strong public opinion.

'I think they will go on until they get this, then they will be after other things at Burrator and trying to commercialise their other reservoirs — which people like just the way they are. We just hope the National Park won't cave in because they are frightened of them.'

Mr Bainbridge claimed SWW was also ignoring the 1995 Environment Act, which obliges companies operating within a National Park to uphold National Park values — an issue he proposes to take up with the Government.

Friends of Burrator chairman Graham Ledger said: 'With the tremendous unpopularity of the proposals shown by thousands of people, it is extremely sad that SWW should want to persist with this application.

'This huge conglomeration maintains it is interested in environmental issues, yet it's patently obvious they are only interested when it suits their commercial aspirations.'

Dartmoor Society chairman Dr Tom Greeves said: 'There have been five years of intense, reasoned opposition to similar schemes at Burrator. That opposition has been unparalleled in the history of Dartmoor National Park.

'SWW lost its application and appeal and yet it's still pursuing this. We feel their insensitivity to the hundreds of people who oppose their schemes and the special environment of Burrator — which works so well because it lacks the facilities SWW wants to impose — beggars belief. They are acting like a major developer, rather than an environmentally-sensitive public utility.'

'I don't think SWW are going to have an easy ride,' he said.

Spokesman Paul Breakwell said SWW had clear statutory obligations to make its land accessible to the public.

'Hence the low-key plans for the limited modernisation of Burrator Lodge. These are not commercial proposals — SWW and the SW Lakes Trust are merely promoting conservation and access to the countryside for recreation,' he said. 'The proposals will, in our view, improve access to this wonderful and beautiful location.'

Mr Breakwell said although people had objected, they had a lot of support for the development, including SWW's Recreation and Conservation Forum — an advisory group made up of environmental bodies from across Devon and Cornwall.

And, he said, the planning inspector had not dismissed the application outright, merely picking up some architectural issues, which SWW has addressed in its new application.

Dartmoor planning officer Colin Jarvis said the authority was currently carrying out its consultation process and had not yet formulated an opinion.