Could the Peak District National Park become a burial site for nuclear waste?

The Government has launched a search for an area to site an underground radioactive waste facility.

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee backed the Government's approach and decided against calling for national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) to be excluded.

The cross-party group said 'in our view it is right for safety matters to prevail over environmental concerns in this case'.

It added that existing planning safeguards would prevent 'intrusive developments and environmental damage'.

The 10 national parks in England - along with three in Wales and two in Scotland - include the Peak District, which was the first to gain official designation on December 28, 1950.

Emma Marrington, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "We hope the government will look again at how inappropriate geological disposal facilities would be in designated landscapes.

"We know that where such major development takes place we destroy beautiful landscapes and ruin our opportunity to pass on a beautiful piece of countryside to the next generation."