13th February 2012
From the start of 2012, the National Trust will be working with its farming and other game managing tenants as well as a wide range of stakeholders, including local communities and users of the area, to produce a ‘Master Plan’ which will create a vision and guide the management of the High Peak Moors in the Peak District over the 25 years. It hopes to finish the master plan by the autumn.
The plan will cover the moorland areas of the National Trust’s ownership within the High Peak, which is centred around Kinder and Bleaklow. The areas included are Kinder; Park Hall; Lady Clough and Alport Moor; Blackden and Black Ashop Moor; Ashop; Blackley Hey and Blackden; Nether and Upper Moors; Birchinlee; Ronksley; Derwent and Howden; South Head Moor; and East Crowden.
The Plan will seek Tenant- Trust partnerships that
• Use each other’s strengths
• Deliver multi-purpose land management to show a positive way forward for the uplands
• Stimulate ideas for new markets such as value added produce
• Enable other business opportunities such as payments for providing public goods such as water and carbon storage
Said The National Trust: “The last 20 years have seen huge and ongoing changes in the way the moors are managed and restored and with the crucial support of Natural England’s Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) designation and funding we’ve made significant progress. The current land management agreements under which these moors are managed are ending in the next year or so. It is now the right time to review the work that has taken place, take account of current circumstances and new priorities and explore what further changes are needed to take us forward in the management of these fragile and rare habitats.”
Ideas gathering workshops are taking place in the following locations. They will start at 6.45pm finishing at 9.00pm
28th Feb, 6.45pm – Glossop Cricket Club
North Road, Glossop, SK13 7AS
21 March, 6.45pm – Bamford Institute
Main Rd, Bamford, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S33 0DY
22 March, 6.45pm – All Saints Church Hall, Totley, Sheffield
Totley Hall Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S17 4AA
The meetings are free to attend but places must be booked in advance by telephoning the National Trust Peak District Office on 01433 670368 or emailing peakdistrict@nationaltrust.org.uk. If you can’t attend the workshops, there will be an opportunity to feed in to the Master Plan via some questions that will be posted here on 28th February 2012.