PARWICH.ORG

National Park Authority confirms barbecues are not permitted anywhere in the open countryside of the Peak District National Park

Following a spate of damaging recent fires, the Peak District National Park has come together with its partners to announce that barbecues and open fires are not permitted anywhere in open countryside throughout the Peak District.

As landowner permission is required to light or tend a fire, the Authority has said that all major land owners and key landowner representatives within the Peak District have this week confirmed they do not give their permission and so barbecues and open fires are not allowed. The announcement follows a call from the National Park Authority on Monday 1 June for retailers across the region to voluntarily remove disposable barbecues from retail sale.

A record-breaking spring of prolonged sunshine, hot and dry weather and regular winds has created a perfect storm of conditions for fires in the open landscape. Within the last week, major blazes have taken place at Bamford Edge, Dovestone and Swineshaw. All are believed to have started from discarded or unattended barbecues.

Teams from the fire and rescue services, national park rangers, the Peak District Moorland Group, farmers and gamekeepers, water companies and conservation charities have all been involved in both  tackling the fires and speaking with the public having barbecues.

Major landowners – including the National Park Authority – have now come together to highlight the dangers of open fires in the landscape and leave the public in no doubt that items such as barbecues may not be used on access land or on footpaths in the Peak District:

• Chatsworth Estate
• Derbyshire Dales District Council
• Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service
• Fitzwilliam Wentworth Estate
• Haddon Estate
• High Peak Borough Council
• Moorland Association
• Moors for the Future Partnership
• National Farmers Union
• National Trust
• North East Derbyshire District Council
• Okeover Estate
• Peak District National Park Authority
• Peak District Moorland Group
• RSPB
• Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
• Tissington Estate
• United Utilities
• Yorkshire Water