Latest News - January 2012

Join us in asking Derbyshire County Council to be bolder, fairer and clearer in its updated off-roading policy!

DCC is currently consulting on its Policy for the Management of Motorised Vehicle Use in the Countryside. Our Take Back the Tracks campaign is lobbying for action to stop 4x4 vehicles and trail bikes damaging sensitive routes in the Peak District - and so we're writing o the Council welcoming the review but calling for firmer action on off-roading. 

We do really welcome the fact that DCC is updating its off-roading policy, but we have some serious concerns about these revisions and don't think they are nearly bold enough. We believe that the draft policy

• puts the rights of off-roaders way above the rights of other users including walkers, cyclists and horse-riders
• ignores DCC’s duty to protect the environment - including the Peak District National Park
• limits partnership working to the off-roading community, and largely ignores other legitimate users
• is unrealistic about how effective voluntary restraint can be in stopping damage from off-roading
• does not explain how and when DCC would close roads using Traffic Regulation Orders
• has the potential to delay DCC issuing Traffic Regulation Orders

Some of our most sensitive routes are under real threat from off-roading damage, and DCC already has the power to protect our landscapes by closing roads. We’d like to see some action now!

We also think that it is important that DCC works more closely with the Peak District National Park Authority, and supports its work protecting this special environment. 

Have your say now!

The deadline for comments on the revised policy is 14 March. Please comment now on DCC's website, asking for changes to strengthen the policy and protect our countryside. 

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Great news and views over at Blacka Moor. Thanks to Yorkshire Electricity (now called Northern Powergrid) the power lines are now down at this much loved land on the edge of Sheffield.

We're continuing our work identifying landscapes and villages in the Peak District National Park that would benefit from having overhead power lines putting underground.

Tell us where else!

This work is paid for using an allowance from the electricity regulator OFGEM. There's still money in the pot, so we're keen to hear from you about Peak District places you know that would be improved without power lines. Please give us your suggestions too.

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We’re disappointed and weary to see the Cowdale application rearing its ugly head yet again. It has been refused twice already, and the arguments are the same. A huge factory in the middle of beautiful countryside just isn’t on.

Express Park Buxton submitted plans to build the five-hectare water bottling plant and distribution site on the greenfield site in early 2010 and again in 2011. Both times, High Peak Borough Council unanimously rejected applications because they would be “unsustainable” and “harmful to character and visual appearance of the countryside and special landscape area.” The Council also had concerns about the impact the building would have on the National Park.

Now the developers have appealed to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate against High Peak’s decision on the second application. The Planning Inspectorate is currently accepting comments on the appeal, and will make a decision following a local hearing.

Like High Peak Borough Council and local people, we maintain that Cowdale is a valuable green space in its own right, and an important buffer zone between the Peak District and Buxton, stopping industrial sprawl, noise and light pollution from affecting the National Park. 

The plans were also rejected because the Council stated that the old limestone quarry was an “important heritage asset.”  Since the last application, English Heritage has listed Cowdale Quarry as a Scheduled Monument of national significance, giving it further protection.

This is still the wrong building in the wrong place! There's still no need for it, and it’s too close to the National Park.

Comment now

If you haven’t commented already, then go to www.planningportal.gov.uk/pcs and follow the links to search for an appeal quoting 2166189. The deadline for comments to the Planning Inspectorate is 31 January. After this, the appeal will be decided following a local hearing.
 

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Along with local people we're cheering the Peak District National Park planning committee's unanimous decision to turn down plans to build 39 houses at the former cheese factory site at Hartington.

 
The committee heard from 24 speakers, 22 of them objecting to the scheme - including our planning officer John King. After hearing all the representations and discussing the evidence members refused it on the grounds that its scale would be out of keeping with the village and damaging to the landscape and character of Hartington.
 
 
The Hartington Liaison Group of local people, councillors and officers, set up to ensure local involvement, had carried out a village survey which revealed a large majority of residents opposed the scheme but would support up to 20 houses with community facilities.  An exhibition and public meetings were also held.
 
We wrote to the Peak District National Park Authority, along with Hartington Parish Council and 123 residents to oppose the proposal on grounds of scale. Traffic issues, encroachment on greenfield land and inadequate affordable housing were also cited. One resident wrote to support it. 
 
We think that developers will appeal if they decide not to come back with an improved scheme.
 

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We'll be attending the Peak District National Park Authority’s meeting to decide on an application to develop 39 new homes on the site at Stonewell Lane in Hartington today.

We want the plans turned down because they are out of scale with the Peak District Village. The buildings would spill out onto greenfield land well beyond the original footprint of the factory. We do accept that the site should be redeveloped for houses, but with this number the development will dominate the village.

There's a terrific amount of opposition from local people. There have been 124 written representations about the application and 123 have opposed the plans. Building nearly forty new houses will significantly affect a community of this size, and people are understandably worried. So we’re joining them to tell the Park Authority that these plans are out of scale for Hartington.

The current plans only include six affordable houses, and more are needed for people in neighouring parishes as well. Also, the application is to build all the affordable houses together in one specific area. We don’t want to see an isolated estate within an estate created so we think they should be integrated into the development.
 

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