The Peak Park Authority are holding a number of workshops ‘across‘ the National Park for residents to have their say in the planning and management of the National Park. These workshops will ask the questions:
• What makes our area’s landscape special for us?
• Whether the authority’s understanding of our area’s landscape and the current land use is accurate?
• Our suggestions for future planning and management of the landscape?
The ‘nearest‘ two to us are:
• Wednesday 15 October, 7pm to 9pm – Warslow Village Hall, Cheadle Road, Warslow
• Saturday 18 October, 10am to 1pm – Peak District National Park Authority offices, Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell
The Authority’s full Press Release is below:
PR 525 – 15 September 2008
Have your say on planning and management of national park
Residents are being asked by the Peak District National Park Authority to help shape future planning policies and for their views on how the landscape should be managed.
The next 10 to 25 years will see the Peak District National Park landscape change in many ways as the area adapts to the impact of climate change and faces competing demands for land use. Issues the national park will face include:
• The need for more affordable housing
• A desire to prevent over-development
• Applications for wind farms, road widening schemes, mobile phone masts or new tourist attractions
• The need for larger, modern farm buildings
• Efforts to improve biodiversity and restore moorlands
The Peak District National Park Authority is working on two projects that will guide the way the landscape is managed for the next generation. These are:
• A Landscape Strategy that will shape the future management of the national park
• The Local Development Framework – a blueprint for planning policy that will replace the existing Structure and Local Plans.
Residents are being invited to take part in one of a series of workshops across the national park. They will be asked:
• What makes their area’s landscape special for them
• Whether the authority’s understanding of the area’s landscape and current land use is accurate
• Their suggestions for future planning and management of the landscape
Jane Chapman, the authority’s head of environment, heritage and recreation, said: “The Peak District National Park is a special place to the 38,000 people who live here and the millions who visit each year.
“It is also a living and working place that has to adapt to constant change while preserving the things that make it so special for residents and visitors alike.
“These workshops give people the chance to consider all the pressures and opportunities for change in the national park and decide what action is needed to either take or resist these developments.”
At the workshops residents will also see the results of the recently published Landscape Character Assessment for their area – a map, photos and written description of the different types of landscape around where they live.
The workshops will be held at the following locations and times:
• Monday 6 October – Kettleshulme War Memorial Hall, Macclesfield Road, Kettleshulme
• Wednesday 8 October – Hathersage Memorial Hall, Oddfellows Road, Hathersage
• Tuesday 14 October – Hayfield Village Hall, Walk Mill Road, Hayfield
• Wednesday 15 October – Warslow Village Hall, Cheadle Road, Warslow
• Saturday 18 October, 10am to 1pm, – Peak District National Park Authority offices, Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell
• Monday 20 October – Bradfield Village Hall, Woodfall Lane, Low Bradfield
• Wednesday 22 October – Holme Sunday School building, junction of Woodhead Road and Fieldhouse Lane, Holme
All events run from 7pm to 9pm, except the Bakewell workshop, which takes place between 10am and 1pm. Places must be booked in advance by ringing 01629 816270 or emailing farming@peakdistrict.gov.uk
Brian Taylor, policy planning manager for the Peak District National Park Authority, said: “This is an important stage in writing a new plan and we want to offer local people this opportunity to help shape it.
“The Local Development Framework is a document that will have an impact on the lives of everyone who lives in the national park because it will determine the types of planning applications that are acceptable or unacceptable in a particular area.
“For that reason it is important that local people play an active part in shaping the document to reflect their hopes and needs for the future management of the national park.”
A copy of the Landscape Character Assessment findings can be seen in advance of the workshops by visiting the Peak District National Park Authority’s website at www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/lca
John Fern
Head of communications
Peak District National Park Authority
Telephone: 01629 816356
Email john.fern@peakdistrict.gov.uk
Website: www.peakdistrict.gov.uk
(Note. PARWICH.ORG has contacted the Authority for information on how people unable to attend these not very local meetings can contribute to the process.)
PARWICH.ORG 
Thank you for advertising these community events more widely on the Parwich website and for inviting us to comment about the location of the workshops.
We appreciate your concern over the proximity of the events to Parwich but we do try to be fair to all communities when planning such events over a number of years. On a simple level we just do not have enough resources to get out to every village for every consultation so we try to rotate our attendance to different places.
In recent years the Peak District National Park Authority has visited Parwich with Derbyshire Dales District Council to discuss matters of affordable housing and we have had a long running connection with Parwich on community planning, including direct support on projects. This level of support is not possible in all places and we have to respond when other communities want similar opportunities.
On this occasion we appreciate these events are not so conveniently located for Parwich but we would welcome people from Parwich and surrounding villages at any of the other planned workshops (see the list in the original post). The Bakewell event on Saturday 18 October at 10am is particularly intended to draw in a wider audience. It is also timed to give those who can’t get to evening meetings the opportunity to take part.
All these events are very much a pre-cursor to the more formal stages of public engagement on these key strategy documents where everyone will have the same opportunity to comment on the emerging detail. The formal consultation will include online consultation so that all residents in the national park can take part at a time to suit them.
The formal consultation period for the Local Development Framework (LDF) will be from early December until the end of February. The landscape strategy consultation will be from 16 February to 31 March 2009. Details will be on the Peak District National Park Authority website nearer the time.
For interest a series of community visits are currently being undertaken by the chair of the authority Narendra Bajaria and senior directors. The first of these took place at Hartington on 30 September. Other visits are planned in the next six months to other villages. Parwich will be one of those villages, although a date for the visit has still to be set.
So there will be other opportunities for the people of Parwich to have further direct engagement with the Peak District National Park Authority over the coming months which we hope you’ll take advantage of.
Regards
Jane Chapman, head of environment, heritage and recreation strategy, and Brian Taylor, policy planning manager, for the Peak District National Park Authority.