'Mass trespass' peak to be fenced for £2.5m repairs

The trespass by hundreds of walkers on Kinder Scout, in the Peak District, in 1932 was a key moment in the campaign to give the public better access to the countryside.

But while the peak has become a symbol of free access to the countryside, it has also become "one of the most damaged areas of moorland" in the UK, suffering from bare and degraded peat bogs, gullies and erosion.

Work by the Trust, which has owned Kinder Scout since 1982, is aimed at restoring vast areas of the blanket peat by blocking gullies and planting cotton grass, heather seed and dwarf shrubs such as bilberry.

The project will also involve spreading heather "brash", harvested from local moors in autumn when it is covered in seeds, on eroded areas where it creates a micro-climate at soil level which allows seeds to germinate.