Authority rejects sale plan for climbing hotspot

Groups including the British Mountaineering Council had been campaigning against a proposal by the authority to save money by selling off the land, which includes Stanage Edge – one of the most famous rock climbing sites in the UK.

On Friday, members of the authority’s audit, resources and performance committee voted to keep the 545-hectare estate above Hathersage, and to “drive forward a business plan” to make it break even financially by September next year.

The plans had been considered as a way to deal with Government cuts of more than 30 per cent of the authority’s budget between 2011 and 2015.

It has already leased its Eastern Moors estate to a partnership of the National Trust and RSPB and the Roaches to the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

A spokesman for the authority said that “such a partnership option was considered but discounted in this case”.

Committee chairman Christopher Pennell said: “We wanted to give certainty on the future of the estate for the sake of the local community, users, tenants, the authority’s managers and staff.

“After careful consideration we concluded that the authority is in the best position to run the North Lees estate.

“It was bought with public money and we are fully committed to ensuring public access, conservation, education and innovation.

“We believe in it, our officers have given us a business plan showing how it could be brought to a position where we recover full costs, and we want them to get on with it without the distraction of continuing to investigate the possibility of external partnerships or disposal.

“This will mean people may have to be prepared to pay more than they have before, for instance for car parking, camping, refreshment concessions or for utilising buildings.

“But they can rest assured that there would never be any restriction or charge for access.”

Before the vote, the committee had heard from speakers including Rob Dyer, from the British Mountaineering Council, Jean Hodgkinson, from the Stanage Forum, John Thompson, from the Peak District Local Access Forum, and Keith Jennings, a former head of property for the national park authority.