Scattering blessings as they go

A winter joy for me is a walk by a Peak District river to hear the dipper’s wren-like courtship call and to watch brown trout spawning in the gravelly shallows.  Rivers are some of the best-loved and accessible parts of the Peak District National Park landscape.

The 900 kilometres of our 24 rivers vary from the tumbling torrents draining the moors in the Dark and South West Peak to the spring-fed rivers that empty the limestone aquifers in the limestone dales.

River Dove in Dovedale

A characteristic of our limestone ‘karst landscape’ is that as much of the water runs underground as above ground. A fun thing to do with children is to cycle down the Manifold Trail watching where the river Manifold runs dry downstream of a flowing stream. To the poet Charles Cotton these brooks were ‘streams supplied below, which scatter blessings as they go’.

The blessings are still many. Peak District National Park rivers are rich in wildlife, home to grey wagtails and kingfishers and also to brook lamprey, bullhead, brown trout and grayling.  They supply water to the local area and anglers still cast a fly to a rising brown trout on a summer evening, 350 years after Cotton and his friend Izaak Walton did so.

Trout rising on the River Wye in Monsal Dale

But, all is not well with our rivers.  In November 100 residents of the village of Youlgrave packed the local hall worried about very low flows in the River Bradford.  Their worries were for the environment and also because they get their water from a local supply.

Warren Slaney, river keeper for the Haddon Estate where he looks after the rivers Wye, Lathkill and Bradford describes this season as ‘heartbreaking’.  Each yearWarren waits for the autumn rains to fill the deep cavernous aquifers in the limestone below Bradford and Lathkill Dales.  For two winters these have been late and little.  Under lying snow and frost-hardened soils little water reaches deep into the ground.  So, summer river flows have been virtually negligible. In July fisheries officers for the Environment Agency joined Warren to save fish from rapidly drying and oxygen-depleted pools in the Lathkill.

Low flows in the River Lathkill

Elsewhere, anglers have described 2011 as a disaster and the Trent Rivers Trust has called for urgent action to be taken on the River Dove.  Andrew Heath from the Trust talks of the ‘murky polluted water’ flowing through the Beresford Beat on the Dove this summer.  This is the crucible of angling, where Cotton built the ‘FishingTemple’ as a symbol of his fishing friendship with Walton. Downstream, in the National Trust’s Wolfscote and Dovedale summer tourists have looked on worried at the polluted river.

My colleague and Peak District National Park Authority ecologist Rhodri Thomas shares these concerns.  ‘Overall our Peak District rivers are high quality compared with lowland rivers, but there is a moderate to high risk of low flows causing ecological damage.  In some seasons recently we’ve seen complete seasonal drying in some rivers and low flows on others.  I fear that the climate change predictions of hotter and drier summers could make this much worse in the future’.

The Dove in Wolfscote Dale, where Walton and Cotton fished

Climate change is one factor, but there are other causes too.  Water prices have surged in recent years and farmers have sunk boreholes to supply the drinking water vital to their stock.  Historically, lead-miners bore underground drainage channels, or ‘soughs’ in the limestone rock to drain the ore-bearing mines. With lower flows, any escaping sewage, farm waste or pesticides get more concentrated in the river, with less clean water to dilute them, And in limestone environments the complex chemistry of the mineral-rich rocks may create ‘natural’ forms of pollution that can be worsened by landslips and erosion.

Urgent action is needed and working with the Trent Rivers Trust, farmers, other agencies and the local community we are re-doubling our efforts to protect these jewels of the Peak District landscape.

This article was first published in my column for the Derbyshire Magazine ‘View from the Peak District’ in January 2012.

A Look Forward to 2012: An Olympic Year

Our Diamond Jubilee Year in 2011 was busy, memorable and gave us pause for thought.  There were many highlights and we have written about these at www.jimdixon.wordpress.com .

For 2012, there will be many challenges, as we adapt to further budget cuts, and some great opportunities too.  This ‘Olympic’ year will be a terrific opportunity to tell the world about the glories of the Peak District and about the opportunities it gives the outdoor enthusiast.  It will also be a year in which we work ever more closely with farmers, businesses and the people who live in the National Park.

The highlight of 2012 will be the approval and launch of the new National Park Management Plan.  This marks a new stage in the excellent partnership working on which so many of our achievements rest.  Behind the new plan there are many committed individuals and organisations who have played a key role in preparing it and on whose shoulders sits its success.  We especially look forward to appointing an independent chair to lead the new advisory group.

Conservation work continues to be at the core of what we do and this year marks a sea-change in the way that our environment is managed in the Peak District.  There is a great energy behind new partnerships and organisations in the voluntary sector stepping up to the challenges of the new ‘bigger, better and more connected’ agenda.

From the Eastern Moors Partnership we will see the further development of an integrated approach to land management, bringing together a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector managers covering a huge area of the Eastern side of the National Park.

We hope the Nature Improvement Area bid from the National Trust and RSPB is successful.

We look forward to being able to make a decision, probably in 2013 with a lot of work to do in 2012, on the future management of the North Lees Estate – one of the most important property decisions we have ever taken. We wish the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust well as we transfer the Roaches Estate into their careful stewardship.

Across our landscape we are facing up to big conservation challenges: we are starting to address the issues of low flows in our rivers in an emerging partnership; we will redouble our efforts to stem the decline of our farmland waders and will work with all sides to help raptor populations on shooting estates; and we will put more effort into the conservation of meadows, grasslands and dales where we can.

Moors for the Future continues to make progress on the largest moorland restoration programme ever inEurope.

Farmers in the National Park will continue to get good prices at market but will have to pay high fuel and feed prices.  We hope that farmers will continue to take part in the environmental schemes which are important to our rural economy.  We will continue to work with farmers, managing wildlife and landscape, as they diversify business and reduce their carbon footprint. In 2012 we will do more to celebrate the wonderful work that farmers do in the National Park.

Our planners will deal with some of the largest development schemes ever in the Peak District.  In the first few months of 2012 we will look at National Grid’s proposals for the future of the high voltage transmission wires in theLongdendaleValleyin what will be a test case for all National Parks. The major redevelopment of the Hartington Cheese factory site will be considered with huge implications for this important village.

And we expect to see real progress too with our updated guidance on renewable energy and the detailed Development Management policies.

We continue to see the fruits of our work on climate change.  Later in 2012 Chatsworth House will become carbon neutral with the installation of a major new woodfuel boiler as a result of the Estate working with the Authority’s planners; in January, Planning Committee will look at the largest wind turbine ever considered in a National Park; later in the year, we will also be making decisions on importing raw materials into the Hope Cement Works which could cuts its carbon footprint by 20%;  and we start work on a £250 000 carbon reduction plan leading to a further 30% reduction in our own carbon emissions.

For those who can no longer afford a holiday overseas, the attractions of the Peak District offer a great value alternative.  We predict that those in tourism businesses who offer value for money and quality will prosper, especially in this Olympic year.

The eyes of the world will be on London this year and the tourism industry across the country is working hard to capitalise on this.  It’s good for the Peak District that its tourism organisations are at the front of the queue and it’s good for the National Park that this year we are helping chart a long-term strategy for tourism in the Peak District.  We look forward to welcoming the Olympic Torch to Bakewell in June and especially we hope to use 2012 to promote greater uptake of cycling on theUK’s best traffic-free network of trails – this would be a true legacy for this Olympic year.

With new resources and a new policy for managing green lanes, we look forward to some important decisions on some key routes.  We also look forward to strengthening our working relationship with everyone who uses these.  We hope that in 2012 that there will be a greater understanding and acceptance by all, of access by legal right on some routes. And also the restrictions that are needed where we think it’s right to introduce them on conservation grounds.

Both of us are passionate about helping people from a variety of backgrounds experience the Peak District.  There will be many lives changed for the better as people join our ranger guided walks; on organised school and community youth visits to the National Park; and through the great outreach work we and our partners do in the cities that surround us.

We particularly look forward to Losehill Hall re-opening its doors in February under the new Youth Hostels Association management and our educational partnership with them.

In 2012 economic pressures facing everyone will impact on the Peak District.  Falling household incomes mean less luxury spending and for many families and businesses in our rural area it will be tough times.

We are committed to working with the new Business Peak District partnership and our local authority partners to help every Peak District business grow and prosper in ways that are right for our special area.

We especially hope that our commitment of support to a new Rural Business Adviser will be matched by support from the Government. Defra Secretary Caroline Spelman MP has created the opportunity for rural areas to show what they can do to help the economy and the Peak District stands ready to show her and other Ministers in the Government that we can make a positive difference to the Peak District economy.

One of the greatest pleasures we both have is working with the warm and enthusiastic communities in the Peak District.  There is an emerging sense of togetherness and optimism about the work we and others are doing with the traders and Town Council in Bakewell.  We hope this prospers in 2012.

Later in the year we will re-launch our new integrated grant scheme and this will give us further opportunities to help the innovative and dynamic community groups in towns and villages. And we will continue to make sure that our staff and members work closely with communities in all that they do.

Planning often colours the relationship between people who live here and the Authority. This can often lead to understanding and consensus and sometimes to disagreements.  Our new planning policy framework will make our decision-making clearer and we promise to make further strides in ensuring everyone who uses the service gets the quality of response they want.

We shall be opening up the service we give to the public in all areas of our work to external scrutiny later in the year as we apply to achieve the Customer Service Excellence Award.

Like families, farms and business, the National Park Authority has to tighten its belt and in 2012 we will be both implementing the 5.6% cut in our grant for 2012/13 and also expect more lean years ahead.  This year we will be looking in detail at how we might use the freedom to set our own planning fees; opportunities to create greater income from our assets and services; and further cuts in staff, especially amongst the senior management of the organisation.

We are delighted that at a time of difficult budgets, we have been able to agree to £450 000 of spending on new work for the period to 2015 which will support many of the priority areas listed in this forward look.  We will also begin to spend £450 000 of capital that will include investing to save in our properties and reducing our carbon footprint. Through careful budgeting, even at a time of cuts in our revenue budget we have been able to fund this priority work in the short-term.

The commitment of all of the people associated with the National Park continues to humble us both.  This year we will celebrate the first of a series of 50 year anniversaries amongst our voluntary rangers who do such wonderful work.  We will also be expanding the role of volunteering across the organisation, together with finding new ways of helping a wider range of people to volunteer.

We continue to work closely with all of our dedicated staff and recognise that continued downward pressure on incomes applies to you all.  And we look forward to further ways in which members will play bigger roles in the community and the introduction of a directly-elected element for the first time.

You are all a great team and your efforts really are valued.

Jim Dixon, Chief Executive and Tony Favell, Chair of the Authority

A look back over 2011

This Blog is a look back over 2011.  Next week with Tony Favell, Chair of the Authority, I will write about what is coming up in 2012

Our Diamond Jubilee year was busy, memorable and gave us pause for thought for the future too.

Celebration of our Jubilee Year at Ashford in the Water

For many, it was a year of huge change and sadness too.  In March we closed the doors for the last time to guests at Losehill Hall and said tearful goodbyes to many colleagues who worked there. While this has been tough for everyone involved, I am pleased the learning and discovery team will move back into the building when it re-opens as a new youth hostel next year.

We also signed the lease with the RSPB and National Trust for the Eastern Moors and agreed to hand over the management of the Roaches Estate to the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. Whilst each has a tinge of sadness for people who have worked hard on those estates, I have no doubt these were all good decisions for the National Park.

2011 was a time when we began to invest in the future too.  May saw the completion of the brilliant Monsal Trail tunnels project to huge acclaim and by the end of November 48,000 people (including the Minister for Tourism and the Chief Whip!) had cycled it and many more walked and rode their horses on this wonderful new route. It has become a firm visitor favourite and an asset to our economy.

The Duke of Devonshire meets former railway workers at the launch of the new Monsal Trail

It was fitting that we expanded our trail network in a year when the Tissington Trail celebrated its 40th birthday too. And to cap this, we opened the lovely newBlackHarryTrailsnetwork and celebrated 20 years of Peak Park Leisure Walks.

Our access work was under the media and public spotlight this year with a BBC4 TV documentary, the first experimental Traffic Regulation Order at Chapelgate in August and a revised policy and new funds for this work to accelerate action agreed with wide support in December.

Our outreach work to help people understand the national park has continued to inspire thousands.  I really enjoyed my days out with the education team with Sheffield 6^th formers, the first of theCheshire special schools visits to the Peak District in Longdendale and also with the Mosaic Champions who visited Ravenstor youth hostel this summer.

I was reminded of the wonderful work our rangers have done for decades by Gordon 'the warden' Miller

We continued to make great strides with our conservation work and were especially pleased to welcome Sir John Lawton to launch our new Biodiversity Action Plan.  Despite coping with horizontal rain, Sir John was hugely impressed with Moors for the Future which remains a beacon for whole landscape conservation work at a time when this approach is being championed nationally.

We made a great breakthrough on the sensitive issue of protecting birds of prey on shooting estates, leading the way nationally, and have begun to make progress with our partners on addressing the decline of farmland birds.

We continue to work closely with farmers on the transfer of ‘old’ to ‘new’ agri-environment schemes and have been particularly successful at making great progress on some large grants for traditional farm buildings.  And the Peak District has never been as busy at night, thanks to the incredible start we’ve had with our Dark Skies project.

Our planners have had a very busy year with their fair share of complex and taxing cases. They have made great progress with affordable housing schemes, such as those approved in Birchover and Youlgrave.  We’ve supported dozens of farmers with planning approvals for slurry stores across the Peak District and we continue to make decisions day in and day out that preserve the character of the national park.

Planner Chris Fridlington has helped dozens of farmers sort out the planning permissions required for new slurry stores

We continue to have an excellent record of winning appeals and meet all our main targets. We are in the vanguard of planning authorities who have had their Core Strategies approved – a process which has produced a good strategy with huge support from across the range of interests who contributed.  And Sarah Foster was awarded the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Young Planner of the Year and, as a result, visitedBostonandSwansea.

We continue to support many communities with expertise and grants helping many people with new village halls, community orchards, woods and enterprises and the continued buzz of people making their lives and communities better.

Set against a tough national and international economic picture, we have made a real contribution to our economy, with an active local procurement approach, a planning service skilled in working with business and a very successful year for Live and Work Rural.  I have enjoyed enormously working with the newly-established Business Peak District whose Board have gelled well and have given selflessly of their time in building a new organisation which is winning support locally, with the new Local Enterprise Partnerships and nationally too.

The launch of Business Peak District was attended by over 100 businesses

We have shown our own entrepreneurial spirit by developing a more commercial approach to the way we provide some services. Since October our design team has been operating on a commercial basis rather than being centrally funded with all internal and external work charged for.

And in December we agreed a new future for the Environmental Quality Mark scheme which will see it operating as a community interest company from 2012.  More entrepreneurial approaches are also underway in visitor centres, cycle hire centres and campsites.

As an organisation we have focused on three main improvement projects – developing consistently good customer service, doing more effective staff engagement and development and helping the public to understand and relate to the planning system.

Members enjoyed an excellent tour of the Warslow Moors Estate

We said a sad farewell to our former chair Narendra Bajaria in March but Tony Favell has filled his shoes very well and already made his mark with communities, local authorities, Ministers and all of the staff he has met face-to-face.  Our two main committees are effective and well-led by John Herbert and Christopher Pennell.

We welcomed some new members, and welcomed back others, but were sad to mourn Ron Priestley, one of our longest-serving members, and Janet Goodison, who showed so much promise as a new member.  We saw Bev Primhak leave to enjoy a dream lifestyle in theMaldivesand Matt Croney rather less exotically to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.  Their successors Andrea McCaskie and Keith Jennings are great ‘catches’ for us and are both popular colleagues.

We celebrated our 60^th Anniversary at Longshaw with the launch of what is set to be the best National Park Management Plan we have ever done, with great support for it from our partners.  And it was lovely to hear a personal message of support fromHRH the Prince of Wales at our well-attended Church Service in Edale this autumn.

I enjoyed enormously reflecting back on our 60 years as an organisation with the wonderful ‘Long View’ conversations for my Blog that I had with Gordon Miller, The Dowager Duchess ofDevonshire, Sir Bob Kerslake and Prof John Tarn, and also reading the interviews with other pioneers such as John Foster, my first predecessor. These are all inspiring and accomplished people who have a love for the Peak District National Park, have helped make it what it is today and share a real concern for its future.

The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire with one of her chickens

I hope you have a very happy Christmas and an enjoyable 2012.

In Part 2 of this message next week, I will look forward with the Chair of the Authority to the year ahead.

Habitats and Reviews

In the mid 1990s I worked closely with the special advisers to successive Conservative Agriculture Ministers, encouraging them to break the anti-environment stranglehold of the then senior civil servants in MAFF.  One, very generously, told me recently that I and my then boss opened his eyes to the value of biodiversity.  His successor as MAFF special adviser in 95-97 has, this week, become the number one hate figure for the biodiversity conservation world.  I hope I can’t be blamed for that.

As part of a pretty comprehensive  and controversial  Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne riled the conservation bodies with his  comment that  ‘we will make sure that gold plating of EU rules on things like Habitats aren’t placing ridiculous costs on British businesses’.  This has unleashed a torrent of letters to newspapers, a Harry Potter-style howler of a letter to the Prime Minister from the main NGOs and numerous blog and columnist attacks on the Chancellor.

Few people will be aware of what the Habitats Directive is and even fewer will have much knowledge of its implementation and what ‘gold-plating’ really means.

Long Dale National Nature Reserve, part of the Peak District Dales Natura 2000 site

I recall the great whoops of joy at the RSPB Sandy HQ when the EU Habitats Directive was agreed in May 1992.   Today, nearly 1 million square kilometres of the EU (all 27 countries) is covered by the EU Habitats Directive and this translates to active programmes for the conservation of 200 habitat types, from Macronesian laurel forest to Mediterranean steppe grasslands and Atlantic estuaries to boreal forests.  The so-called Natura 2000 series of Sites of Community Interest is, without doubt, a huge achievement of modern Europe, akin to the creation of the great Medieval Cathedrals.

A comparison of the UK land area designated, 7.2% or 54 474 square kilometres , compares less favourably with the rest of the EU at about 20%.  But this is a bit misleading as our land area is much more developed than, say, Portugal or Poland or Greece or Estonia.  Details on Habitats Directive implementation in England is at http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/sac/default.aspx

In the Peak District National Park an extremely large proportion of our land area is designated under the Habitats Directive  http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/looking-after/biodiversity .  And, you would expect the conservation of this to be a top priority for the National Park Authority.  It is and always will be.

Defra Minister Richard Benyon hears first hand about moorland conservation from Moors for the Future's Chris Dean and Matt Buckler

Our two Habitats Directive sites include a chunky 43 642 ha share of one of the largest sites in the country, the 64 983 ha South Pennine Moors.  Relatively smaller, but still important is the Peak District Dales site, which includes many of our best grasslands.  Their conservation will always be a top priority.

Our Moors for the Future project is part way through a massive restoration project – Moorlife -http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/node/180   funded by a huge EU LIFE grant which will restore 1200 hectares, (or 1800 football pitches) of eroded moorland.  This isn’t just the biggest conservation project in the Peak District, but the biggest EU-funded conservation project anywhere in the UK, ever.

A serious business: heather brash being transported to the moorland restoration sites as part of the Moorlife restoration project

So, to George Osborne and his review.

Actually, the review is being run by Defra and was announced by Caroline Spelman on the day of the Autumn Statement.  A look at the Defra statement begins to put a different complexion on this from the strident anger of the NGOs.  Defra will conduct an in-depth analysis of how well the EU Habitats and Birds Directives are being applied in England.  It’s terms of reference can be seen here: www.defra.gov.uk/rural/protected/habitats-wildbirds-review/

It’s worth quoting the purpose of the review in full:  To review the Habitats and Wild Bird Directives as currently implemented in England by the Habitats Regulations and Offshore Marine Conservation Regulations, focussing in particular on those obligations that affect the authorisation process for proposed development, with a view to reducing the burdens on businesses while maintaining the integrity of the purpose of the directives

What I’m about to say may lead to my being off the Christmas Card list of the environment NGOs.  But, maybe now is a good time to review the Directives, and especially with a review designed to ‘maintain the integrity of the purposes of the directives’.  Since the Directives were agreed and translated into UK law, much has changed in Britain.

We’ve learned a lot more about habitats through better science and practical conservation.  We’ve integrated conservation into key land management businesses like forestry, farming and water collection in a way unimaginable in 1992.  Environmental bodies are better able, and more ambitious, in owning and protecting sites than they were 20 years ago. And local authority planners and councillors, public agencies and the public have a better feel for the issues too.

Chair of the Environment Agency Lord Smith hears first hand about the integrated management of upland moorlands for water, conservation, farming, sporting and access from Authority Deputy Chair Geoff Nickolds

Some months ago I wrote on this Blog about the Natural Environment White Paper, the National Ecosystems Assessement and work being done by the Treasury to integrate the environment into all economic and policy thinking.  I’m in no great position to judge whether the Chancellor remains committted to this, but I don’t see an administrative review of two Directives as evidence that he is not.

I don’t see the real difficulties in involving businesses (so long as they’re the right ones) at the table examining these rules. Today, many businesses take these issues seriously.  Corporate Social Responsibility was a theoretical concept in 1992 but is mainstream now, and what CEO of a major brand would threaten their value by an all-out assault on the environment?    And, for those that don’t play by the rules then the ‘integrity of the purposes’ will remain the stick of last resort.

I think too, that it’s probably not a bad time to consider whether the full panoply of ‘Appropriate Assessments’ are always necessary, sometimes for relatively trivial actions on a site.  And, the review includes looking at where the Directives are insufficiently implemented as well as too rigorously (or gold-plated’) and if that promotes a proportionate approach it should probably be welcomed.

Sometimes I feel that the commonsense solutions that well-trained and experienced ecologists, surveyors, developers and planners could come up with for modest developments are stifled by process.  I welcome the review objectives of seeking ‘creative’ solutions. And the review will look at sharing best practice, improving information for business and better engagement at an earlier stage.

Important places, like the Peak District moors,need protection, but the administration of these regimes should be open to scrutiny

I don’t want to live in a Britain where we wantonly damage the most important wildlife sites.  But I recognise that as conservationists we share this island with others and that true sustainable development means environmental legislation which must be effective and widely supported.  I think a review is timely and I look forward to contributing to a constructive submission by the National Parks.

Plane Mad

As something of a birdwatcher, I’ve always had an interest in anything airborne and this includes a passing interest in aircraft. With my official concerns for tranquillity and my amateur photographer’s interest in the Peak District sky, planes and their intrusion into the national park is something I’ve thought about a lot since coming to live and work in the Peak District.

During the emergency grounding of all flights in Europe following the volcanic ash cloud in April 2010 I took this great sunset at Hartington - no contrails!

This interest has been given greater impetus recently as I’ve downloaded a new ‘App’ that allows me to track civil aircraft from my phone, PlaneFinder. Other web-based versions of these can be looked at on your computer, such as Flightradar24.com. These work by picking up and plotting the ‘squawks’ from civil aircraft, identifying their type, speed, altitude, direction and route. So, stood on a Peak District hill I can find out the details of the planes flying over.

The airspace above the UK is pretty busy with air-traffic controllers directing over 6000 flights a day. Many of these are in the crowded skies around London. But we get more than our fair share in the Peak District. UK airspace is made up of 10mile wide and 5000ft high skyroads and very detailed controlled spaces near to the main airports. The following seem to be the main routes here.

Many of the big transatlantic midday flights to Western US from the London airports climb out over the Chilterns and Midlands transiting the Peak District at 25-30 000 feet. These big, fuel and passenger-laden planes are generally still climbing as they pass over us so they are often the noisiest planes in our skies. They’re also the big culprits in generating contrails, icy trails of vapour in the upper airspace that can wreck sunsets and bright sunny days in all seasons.

In contrast to the first picture, this is something of a normal summer evening sky looking west from the Peak District towards Manchester

On the return journey these flights come in over the south of Britain so we don’t see them in the Peak District. But we do get a lot of upper airspace transatlantic flights heading east to continental Europe. And there are a surprisingly large number of Ireland to central Europe flights and we seem to be in a key corridor for these routes both east and westwards.

A large number of domestic flights pass over at high altitude too, especially north and southbound London to Scotland and Ireland routes and these smaller planes seem generally to be cruising in the 25-35 000 foot range by the time they hit us, so they’re a lot quieter. I once sat in the jumpseat of a commuter flight from Stansted to Edinburgh and on a clear morning the views of England coast to coast were impressive.

Natural cirrus cloud in mid summer - before the transatlantic flights have started leaving London

Our two big local airports, Manchester and East Midlands account for a lot of traffic too, with a small number of planes destined for Leeds Bradford.

If the prevailing westerly winds mean planes are landing at Manchester from the north west a huge number of planes from the southern European destinations pass over the Peak District between 10 000 and 5000ft on their descent. I find these pretty intrusive in the Staffordshire Moorlands part of the national park and also in the Buxton to Longdendale area, where the flights turn from the north to pass over Manchester city centre before landing .

When the flights are landing from the southwest some of the European flights will descend over the southern Peak District before turning towards the runway and some European flights will take off over the moors. I understand too that some of the larger transcontinental flights from Manchester heading east will occasionally circle to gain height and these seem to be a midwinter phenomenon. Someone might be able to explain why?

Contrails - they add character to the sky but can dominate - here looking south near Elton

Where I live in the Peak District I’m also aware of the flights to and from East Midlands Airport. When they’re landing from the east the Scotland and Ireland routes will descend over the Peak District towards Nottingham and some larger transatlantic cargo planes come over here on their descent too.

In the past when air traffic control and navigation was more rudimentary, the Peak District built something of a reputation as an aircraft graveyard, with over 60 crashes mainly in the 1940s and 50s.

Two of these were civil aircraft, including an Icelandic Air flight which killed the two crew and one passenger at Crow Stones Edge above the Derwent dams on 12 April 1951 and a Dragon Rapide which crashed in fog on Kinder in the winter of 1963. Happily the two crew members survived that crash.

I’m told too that the PanAm flight that so tragically crashed at Lockerbie passed over the Peak District minutes before the explosion which led to so many deaths.

A more natural sky

There’s a huge debate going on about whether there should be more aircraft capacity, more airports and also whether a better rail network would reduce the need for domestic flights. And when very detailed changes to flightpaths and controlled airspace are made, special attention is paid to national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

A better high speed train service to Manchester and Scotland would potentially save some of the aircraft travelling over the Peak District, especially if people chose to travel from Northern England destinations to Europe by train. But for the foreseeable future planes will lbe a part of the Peak District experience.

An Olympic Effort

Rural England has given much to the World, including the inspiration for the modern Olympic Games whose origins are in Much Wenlock in the Shropshire Hills. Today the Olympics have grown into a multi billion industry and it’s now coming to a street-corner near you.

London 2012 will be a huge sporting event and the Government is intent on making it a great showcase for the country as a whole. Over the Olympic period 40 000 journalists will pitch up here and half of the World’s population is expected to watch some of the events with ¼ to 1/3 watching the opening ceremony alone.

I attended a briefing this week by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP, his tourism Minister John Penrose MP and the key officials running the torch relay and England’s tourism plan for the Olympics.

You certainly couldn’t fault them all for their enthusiasm for the opportunities nor their energy in putting together a plan to capitalize on it.

First, there’s the torch relay. Arriving in Britain from Greece in mid May it will travel around the country with its convoy of support vehicles, runners, media and security. It will visit all 15 of the UK’s national parks on its tour and the organizers claim it will be within a few miles of 95% of the population. Details ate www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay

The iconic torch comes to the Peak District on the afternoon of Friday 29 June with a visit to the cable cars at the Heights of Abraham, Matlock, Darley Dale, Chatsworth and then Bakewell. It then goes on to Buxton and Ashbourne before heading off to Derby.

We are planning events with our partners in Bakewell and I suspect this leg will be one of the more high profile parts of its tour. Secondly, the Government is keen to tell the World about what makes the UK a great place for tourism (and business, and education etc) and we heard from the Ministers that the ‘Great Britain’ campaign will be a £127M marketing and advertising campaign across the World featuring some of the best things about our country.

The idea here is to promote the UK for the long term, not just for the duration of the Games. And, naturally, the UK’s national parks feature fairly prominently, especially those in the ‘Destinations of Distinction’ such as the Lake District, Broads and the Peak District.

During 2012 the UK national parks will be working on the theme of ‘Winning Landscapes’ and we’ll be featuring our links with outdoor sports, great Olympians and, most importantly, the legacy issues.

For us in the Peak District this will continue to focus our work encouraging more use of cycling, both for leisure and as a lifestyle choice for travelling. Watch this space for more developments on that front. That would be a great legacy.

Thirdly, the tourism industry is concerned that ‘normal visitors’ both to the UK and within the UK might be scared off a bit by the thought of the Olympic brouhaha. So, they’re going to be putting some real cash and co-ordination by a new national marketing plan, focused around a TV advertising campaign, other forms of marketing and a discount scheme, for visitors linked to the 2012 theme.

Whatever your take on whether the Olympics are a brilliant thing or a bit of a costly extravagance, there’s no doubting that for the tourism sector it’s an opportunity. I was pleased that those at the top with proper resources and other levers of control seem to have a coherent plan.

This Makes Me Cross

On my first visits to the Peak District many years ago I remember staying for a short time in the village of Ilam (or Eleven am as some wags call it). It is a quintessential ‘chocolate box’ village with pretty cottages, the National Trust as its main neighbour and for many the gateway to Dovedale and the Peak District. I’ve been in the Ilam area a bit recently, not least focusing people’s minds on the future of the toilets at Dovedale.

But one of the best things to have happened in the Peak District has just got some great national recognition. This is a great tale from the national park, and a good example in practice of both excellence in the public sector and also the Big Society.

Ilam Cross was originally erected by benefactor Jesse Watts Russell in 1841 in memory of his wife Mary, and is recognised as a great Gothic achievement. It is also the centre of what is an important part of our tourism economy. And until a few months ago it was crumbling.

In a different era or different, an army of public servants would survey it, add it to lists and prioritise such a folly to the point of neglect. But, fortunately the Ilam cross has a great community and some helpful and wise friends in high places.

Phil Mottram, a Londoner who was evacuated to Ilam in wartime and who has loved the village since, and his colleagues in the community set to work to save their cross:

The Ilam Cross Trust (details of which are at: www.ilam.org.uk) was set up several years ago to save this important structure. First they had to acquire the cross, something we helped with in 2009 by compulsory purchase (something that has to be done when no-one claims ownership and where grants are needed). Funds had to be raised, permissions granted and work commissioned. The experts from both English Heritage and the National Park Authority provided patient, expert and supportive advice throughout.

As the work began on the 13 m structure, an entirely contemporary form of communications told the restoration story, through the Ilam Imp who tweeted progress on the restoration @Ilam_imp

Just a couple of weeks ago the scaffolding came down and the Cross is now restored to its former glory. It was always grand for a small village. It is now just super.

And on Tuesday this week, the broadcaster Clare Balding, the impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber and the grandees of English Heritage gathered in London to celebrate 16 community-led heritage conservation projects in their Angel Awards: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/heritage-at-risk/English-Heritage-Angel-Awards/

Our Ilam Cross did not win, but to be shortlisted from over 200 applicants for such a prestigious award and be considered amongst many much larger projects was a fabulous achievement.

The Ilam Cross is another example of the great vision of those like Phil Mottram who put such a value on our heritage, the expertise of those in bodies like the National Park and English Heritage and the wonders communities can achieve when all interests pull together.

I’m not cross at all. I’m very proud of our staff and the communities who have achieved this.

Tales from the National Parks

The Peak District is no stranger to the media or to controversy. In our archives we have copies of TV programmes made over the years. All tell the tale of the Peak District from their time. The latest TV programme on the National Park will be broadcast next week.

Tales from the National Parks is a three part series for BBC 4 (9.00 Sunday evenings) with an hour long film on each of the Peak District, Lake District and Loch Lomond National Parks. Filmmaker Richard Macer has charted some of the controversial issues facing these parks over the last two years.

Richard’s work has won awards and having seen him craft an interesting story out of thousands of hours of disparate filming I can see why. His earlier series have been on industrial museums and department stores. Not, seemingly gripping TV. But I watched again Richard’s powerful film on the closure of JT Morgan, Swansea’s last traditional Department Store. This was a sad and gripping documentary giving a personal story behind the management and staff of a doomed business.

Richard does not deal in clichés nor the sloppy ‘management bad, staff good’ in this film. Instead his film shows the reality of what he sees – good and bad in all, valour and cowardice.

So what of his work on National Parks? In the Lake District (first to be screened this Sunday) he follows the controversial zipwire proposal at Honister slate mines. This story would be dramatic enough, but was made more so by the death in a flying accident of the applicant.

Likewise, the clash of economics and conservation feature in the Loch Lomond film with the story behind plans to open a goldmine.

I first met Richard in the Peak District when he was filming at one of the Operation Blackbrook meetings, a police organised event focusing on off-road vehicles. This was Richard’s interest then and so it proved to be the central issue in his film (broadcast 30 October). But unlike the zipwire and the goldmine the issue of off-road vehicles is perhaps a more complex story.

From the start, we agreed to work with Richard and to give him access to our staff, the people making decisions and the work we do. We wanted to be transparent and help him tell the story of the Peak District. Naturally, all of the other protagonists in this case – keen to get a TV producer allied to their cause – were similarly keen to show Richard their side of the story.

I saw the film last week and with my colleagues we were impressed at how he had told a complex story in an imaginative and fair way. The frustration of the local communities –with us and the off-roaders – naturally features. So too does the sense of injustice at perceived persecution by the off-roadusers. And the access staff of the National Park Authority feature too, balancing the two sides.

I felt that no one side ‘wins’ in the film, rather all sides are given a fair hearing, reflecting Richard’s style of observing. It is certainly no promotional film for any particular cause, nor indeed the Authority. Certain characters and cases stand out, much as those individuals do in real life, and I think different audiences will take different things away from the programme. I’ll be really interested to hear any feedback.

Interestingly, one former Cabinet Minister and one serving Cabinet Minister make cameo appearances.

The media’s job is to shine a spotlight on important issues. Richard Macer’s film does just that. It’s my job, and that of the staff and members of the Authority to handle those issues in the best interests of the National Park. In the coming months more important work will be done on the work to protect green lanes: refreshing our policy; increasing the staff resources on this work; delivering improved routes on the ground; strengthening our partnership with local authorities and the police; and working to balance the interests of all users through our consultative forum. Much to do. But that’s the Peak District.

A Message to the Archbishop of Canterbury

On Friday, I had the privilege to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Amongst other civic and faith leaders, I was asked to welcome him to Derbyshire with a short presentation on the National Park.  This is what I said.

Presentation to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Friday 23 September 2011

Universityof Derby

The National Park and our Environment

 Archbishop, can I add my welcome to you for your visit to Derbyshire.  Others will speak of the achievements and challenges in our urban areas.  I have been asked to talk about rural issues and especially the North of Derbyshire and thePeakDistrictNational Parkwhere I live and work.

Derbyshire is at the heart ofEngland, indeed you cannot get further from the coast than thevillageofWinsterthat I live in.  We are a landlocked county and we look from our borders not to any seas but instead to the great cities and counties of the Midlands:  toManchester,Cheshireand Lancashire; and toYorkshire.

Our landscape and the things that people do here play a vitally important role to the population of Derbyshire and to the great cities and towns surrounding us.  Half of the population ofEnglandcan travel to the Peak District in under one hour.  The Peak District is a green lung for people from cities who come here for physical and spiritual refreshment; it is a place where water, food and minerals are provided; and it helps define the character and quality of life of this county and the surrounding cities, thereby contributing directly to their economic and social success.  

On Sunday 10^th October atEdale Parish Church we shall be celebrating the founding of the National Park in April 1951.  But our story starts a little further back in time. 

300 million years ago our landscape was the bed of a tropical sea where small plants and animals trapped carbon into their bodies, sunk to the bottom of the sea and created the limestone rocks which today make up the dales and limestone plateau of the southern part of the Peak District.  In geological time, the limestone rocks and the underlying gritstone was forced into a great dome by the continental movements that also created theAlps.

The remarkable thing about limestone as WH Auden said is that it dissolves in water, and so the great limestone dome has been weathered, sculpting the landscape we know today.  The limestone plateau is deeply dissected by the rivers Wye, Dove and Manifold creating the beautiful, tranquil and biologically rich dales such as Dovedale. 

Flanking the limestone dales, the gritstone has fractured creating the Edges such as Stanage in the east and the Roaches in the West.  These hundred foot or so high gritstone rocks are an iconic part of our landscape and more recently a favourite of Hollywood Directors, including the best supporting landscape to the latest film version of Jane Eyre.  From the days when the team that conquered Everest practiced their techniques to the thousands of young people who climb today, these edges have been the most important technical and training rocks for the sport of climbing in the World.

Our highest peak Kinder Scout is less of a peak and more of a rounded moorland plateau, but is nonetheless loved by many.  It is one of the most important places in the history of open access to the countryside.  Its place in the history of social progress was assured as the site of the famous 1932 Mass Trespass when working men clashed with landowners to gain access to open moorland.   

In the wet, cold and acidic conditions on the moors, the carbon in decaying plant material does not combine with oxygen and decompose, emitting the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.  Instead, it is locked up in the soil.  There is more carbon stored in the peat soils of theUKuplands than in all of the forests ofBritainandFrance.  But, hundreds of years of industrial pollution have damaged these peatlands to the point where square miles of vegetation have been utterly destroyed. 

Today with better air quality and the combined efforts of a remarkable partnership, we are part way through an epic restoration programme, the largest conservation project in theUK.   We are working to bring vegetation back to the eroded moors.  This has the support of the water companies, farmers, grouse moor owners and those interested in wildlife, walking or the beauty of the landscape.    

The Peak District, is a place of enormous natural richness.  On this canvas, successive generations of people have left their mark, painting the detail into the landscapes – the ancient stone circles at Arbor Low and Stanton Moor; Iron, Bronze and Roman age settlements; the Saxon market town of Bakewell whose 9^th Century stone crosses represent the work of the pioneering Celtic missionary bishops who sought to re-establish Christianity in England; and the great houses and estates of Lyme Park, Haddon Hall and Chatsworth House. – recently voted more desirable by travellers than New York or the Pyramids!

If there are two messages I would want you to take away, the first is that the environmental services provided by our national Parks have a significance to play in our nation’s economic and social life well above what is widely understood by policy makers.  I hope I have given you some examples of this.  My second message is about the central importance of people and their sense of place in the National Parks. 

I do not claim that national parks can resolve all the problems of society, but for 60 years they have played a role in bringing meaning to people’s lives.  This was uppermost in the minds of those who fought for and then pioneered National Parks at a time of crisis and austerity in the 1940s.

For the people who live and work in the National Park: farmers, hoteliers, rangers, foresters and keepers, there is a strong connection with place that almost transcends anything else in their lives.  Debo Devonshire, the Dowager Duchess of Devosnhire says that just as a flock of sheep is hefted to the hillsides where they are born, so many people are hefted to the farm, village or community where they and their families are rooted.  These people retain a sense of meaning in the land and in their communities which may be absent in other parts of our country. 

But these communities face many pressures.  You will be familiar with the challenges the rural churches have in managing ever-bigger groups of parishes.  Living and working in rural areas is increasingly daunting:  Keeping the smaller rural schools open at a time of falling rolls; drastic cuts in rural bus services; the almost total removal of subsidies for affordable homes in the Peak District; and ever-increasing costs of fuel. In the National Park we know these are real problems and we know that for some people the stricter planning controls and our focus on conservation and visitors can sometimes feel a further burden.

 

So, alongside our work to conserve wildlife, heritage and moorland habitats, we take our role in helping the local population seriously.  With our local authority partners we are helping to provide affordable housing in many villages.  With the business community we are working to promote apprenticeships, create new businesses, argue for better broadband and support the transition from the old economy to the new environmental economy – focusing on local food, low carbon and stronger foundations for future rural businesses. 

 

And for the people who visit or who move in to the area there is a whole realm of opportunity.  Perhaps someone’s introduction is on a Duke of Edinburgh, School or Youth Hostel visit or with family and friends walking, cycling or climbing.  For people whose lives are blighted by mental illness, stress or being restricted by poverty of material wealth or aspiration, the inspiration of seeing and understanding these remarkable landscapes can be life-changing.  The health of the nation needs to sustain mind, body and spirit.  And National Parks can help with all three.  Sir Bob Kerslake, Permanent Secretary at CLG and former Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council described to me recently the importance of raising aspirations for young people in our cities and the special way in which experiencing a national park can do this.

 

Agencies such as council youth services; faith groups, the Youth Hostels Associations, Barnardos and the National Park itself provide many examples where experiencing the national park changes lives.  For a weekend last summer we brought the families of victims of violent crime from Sheffield to walk in the dales and moors; our rangers have worked with looked after children from  Derbyshire’sChildren’s home; and last week, the first group of many from Cheshire’s Special Schools spent a day in the streams and moors of the Longdendale valley.  Each year, 150 000 young people come to this landscape through organised visits and many more do so through family or other informal groups.

 

And we are working with representatives of faith communities and Black and Minority Ethnic groups to break down some of the cultural barriers to visiting our National Parks, with particular success with ourDerbycommunity leaders.

 

Being in a place where the trees blow in the wind, where the ground is not paved and where wildlife of all kinds animates our landscape is different to people’s everyday lives.  It can be challenging and rewarding: helping people understand self and others. National Parks are a place for contemplation; relaxation; and renewal.  And a visit can opens eyes to those things which are essential in our life – where our food and water comes from, how communities can be sustainable and, most importantly, our place in nature.

 

Archbishop,I do hope that we might explore ways in which we raise awareness of the more intangible benefits that National Parks provide for the nation.  I hope that you enjoy the rest of your visit.

 

 

 

Do Not Despair

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells

The view towards Water cum Jolly from the Monsal Trail

Of all the ways of seeing the Peak District, one of the most rewarding is on two wheels.  Increasingly, the Peak District is becoming bike friendly.  This has been a gradual process and we’ve accelerated it recently. Last week we celebrated 40 years of the Tissington Trail. Without doubt, this is one of the most accessible ways of experiencing the White Peak landscape.  Tens of thousands of people every year hire or bring their own bikes to the trail starting at Ashbourne or at Parsley Hay.  Our two cycle hire centres here offers some of the best cycle hire facilities in the country. www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/cycle

Linked to the Tissington Trail is the High Peak Trail – the closest to where I live so one of my favourites.  This trail can be pretty exposed, but it passes through some great and ancient countryside, passing by Roystone Grange and Minninglow.  This trail also has some pretty steep stretches and some awesome embankments.   Bikes can be hired at Middleton Top through Derbyshire County Council.  Further down this trail is Cromford Wharf.

Further West is another favourite trail of mine, the Manifold.  This trail takes you through some of the best White Peak limestone landscape and it’s great fun with children and visitors pointing out the river that disappears part way down stream as you follow the rivers Manifold and Hamps on the route of the former light railway.  Visit England described this as one of the 10 best Cycle trails in England earlier this year.

The Manifold Trail

Bikes can be hired at Waterhouses from Brown End Farm www.manifoldcycling-brownendfarm.co.uk  and this allows vistors to travel from the busy A523 road into the heart of the National Park at Upper Hulme near to Hartington.

The tunnel at Ecton on the Manifold Trail

The grandest cycle route for many is the ‘round the reservoirs’ trail in the Upper Derwent.  Hiring a bike at our Fairholmes centre gives access to some of the best moorland and reservoir landscapes in England and is readily accessible from Manchester or Sheffield.

Further North again, the Trans Pennine Trail crosses the Park in the Langsett/Woodhead and longdendale Valleys.  This longstanding trail, also on the route of the former mainline railway, makes some of the most splendid and isolated moorlands accessible by bike.

I’ve written a lot about our most recent trail, the Monsal Trail.  Whilst open for many years, this has not until this year been much of a cycling route, interrupted as it was by the 4 tunnels.  So far, since we opened the tunnels and the new route in may we have had over 35 000 cyclists using this trail.  This is a great achievement, but we have more to do to finish this route to Buxton and Matlock.  Bikes can be hired at either end of the Monsal trail at Blackwell Mill  www.peakblackwellcyclehire.com or Hassop Station – www.hassopstation.co.uk .

The Government's Chief Whip (Patrick McLoughlin MP (Right) with other Peak District MPs Karen Bradley and David Rutley and National Park Authority Chair Tony Favell on the Monsal Trail

There are more and more brilliant sources of information on cycling in the Peak District starting with our website http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/cycle  which has comprehensive maps, detail on our code of practice for users, updates on special events such as bike training and links to other cycling organisations. A number of good local websites exist promoting the Peak District and these have some great videos of the Monsal Trail in particular such as http://www.peakdistrict-nationalpark.com/ and www.peakdistricttv.co.uk

Amongst other sources of information, there’s a great new Blog about cycling www.peakdistrictcycleways.co.uk  and the newly-established Peak Cycle Links has a useful website on www.peakcyclelinks.org.uk.  There are a huge range of good cycle route guides to the Peak District, available in good bookshops and the National Park Centres in Bakewell, Castleton, Edale and Upper Derwent.

And there are several people who offer excellent guided cycling days for novices or people who want to see the area.  Local bike shops generally have very well informed and helpful staff and there are bike clubs and societies all round the Peak District.

An increased interest in health, higher fuel prices and better bike facilities are combining to make cycling a more and more popular pastime.  I’m keen to see cycling move very much into the mainstream as the way people choose to travel into and around the Peak District too.