LYNX UK Trust has taken the next step towards releasing six big cats into Kielder Forest.

An application for permission was received by Natural England on July 13.

A Natural England spokeswoman said: “Any decision to grant a licence to reintroduce lynx into the wild in England will be based on the impact on affected communities and the wider environment and by following international guidelines.”

Lynx UK wants to import four females and two males from Sweden in what it says would be a “trial” reintroduction of the wild animal that died out in Britain 1,300 years ago.

The trust is led by Dr Paul O’Donoghue, under the title of chief scientific adviser, and his wife Emily O’Donoghue, director and company secretary.

Dr O’Donoghue said in a statement this week that the application was a milestone in the history of UK conservation – auguring the first return of an extinct predator that could resume its position as a keystone species in our ecosystem.

Branding Kielder “the kingdom of the lynx” would also pay valuable dividends in terms of the tourist pound, he said.

He added that after a comprehensive consultation process, the only way forward was to carry out the trial.

The submission of the application follows news that the ecologists who carried out the consultation on behalf of Lynx UK had broken away to establish their own group.

The new Lynx Project group said at the time there had been a “difference of views” behind the scenes regarding the approach to engaging with local stakeholders and the governance of the lynx release project as a whole.

They are now extending the length and breadth of the consultation with a view to possibly submitting their own application.

Meanwhile, the National Sheep Association has reiterated its own entrenched objections to the proposal.

Chief executive Phil Stocker said on Monday: “NSA has been strongly opposed to what Lynx UK Trust is calling a pilot release since its inception, with serious concerns around the way the organisation conducted its consultation process to questions around whether current law would even allow such a release to take place.”

He added: “It is almost inconceivable that once released the lynx would ever be removed and therefore we don’t accept this is a pilot project – it is a release.”