SHE is the woman who warned that a Hampshire amusement park could turn into an Alton Towers-style attraction.

Lady Kara Hawks claimed that Paulton’s Park would start to resemble the UK’s largest theme park and family fun resort if it continued to expand.

Lady Kara was representing objectors at a meeting of the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) when she made the controversial comment.

Last night the 71-year-old insisted that the NPA was right to reject an application to retain two rides that were built without planning permission.

However, after reviewing remarks made at the meeting by Paulton’s Park bosses, she conceded that the site would never rival its famous competitor.

Lady Kara,whose late father was the Earl of Kingston, is chairman of Copythorne Parish Council.

About 50 villagers lobbied the council earlier this year after Paulton’s sought permission to continue operating the Edge and Cobra rides, which are outside the main body of the park and do not have consent.

Lady Kara told the Daily Echo: “The parish council discussed the proposal in August, when an alarming number of people turned up to our meeting.

“Residents were concerned about noise and the proliferation of rides. There was a feeling that Paulton’s could turn into something like Alton Towers.

When I spoke at the NPA meeting I was simply passing on what had been said.”

However, subsequent speakers included Richard Mancey, the amusement park’s managing director.

He defended the rides, saying they produced nine decibels of sound compared with the 46 decibels created by traffic on the nearby M27 motorway.

He also dismissed suggestions that Paulton’s could become another Alton Towers, which occupies a 500-acre site in Staffordshire and attracts more than three million visitors a year.

Lady Kara said she accepted Mr Mancey’s assurance.

She has owned her Cadnam home since 1966 but has been to Paulton’s Park only once, when parish councillors went on a factfinding tour earlier this year.

“We were invited to go and were taken round but it was 7pm and the park had closed for the day,”

she said.

However, Lady Kara has no regrets about not being invited to sample the Cobra and the Edge.

“I’m not very good on rides, They’re not my cup of tea,” she said.

Lady Kara trained as a nurse in London and worked as a nursing sister at Stanswood Earls School, near Romsey, for 21 years before retiring in 1998.

The current Earl of Kingston is Lady Kara’s nephew, Robert King-Tenison, who lives in New Zealand.

Paulton’s Park has issued a statement saying managers are reviewing their options. A spokesman declined to comment on the remarks about Alton Towers.