Campaigners urge controversial land owners to sell to Natural England to preserve Peak District beauty spot

Cressbrook Dale residents launched the Save Cressbrook Dale campaign about two years ago after they claimed crowd-funded group Phoenix Rose – which includes former BBC TV Dragon’s Den star Rachel Elnaugh and others – became the new owners of the land and began trying to establish an eco-settlement with a car park, a teepee and other works.

The Peak District National Park imposed a Stop Notice, Tree Preservation Orders and an enforcement notice, according to the campaigners, requesting that any development should cease and that the owners remove what they had installed and reinstate the land.

And after Natural England acquired some of the land from Phoenix Rose, campaigners say the environmental conservation organisation has made an offer to buy the owner’s remaining plot.

A campaign spokesperson stated on the Save Cressbrook Dale website: “We are hopeful that the Phoenix Rose group take up this offer thus strengthening their eco-credentials and can then move on to look for land elsewhere that is more suited to their purpose.

“The whole of Cressbrook Dale would then be protected and managed as an integral part of the National Nature Reserve. Achieving this has become the focus of our campaign.”

The Derbyshire Times previously reported that the PDNP ordered a planning enforcement notice calling upon Phoenix Rose to remove all new additions from a site in Cressbrook Dale by August, 2023, and the PDNP was forced to serve a subsequent notice due to continued residential occupation.

Following a Stop Notice – which is still posted in Cressbrook – and an enforcement notice, campaigners have claimed that Phoenix Rose announced plans to build a chapel which would have required planning permission which led the PDNP to reinstating the land and presenting the owners with a bill for £5,400.

The Save Cressbrook Dale campaign was launched to protect the Peak District Dale and to ensure that it remains accessible for anyone who wishes to visit the area.

Campaigners have argued the integrity and tranquillity of this much-loved valley, between Bakewell and Buxton, is being threatened by land owners who seek to alter the landscape in a way that is at odds with its nature and contradictory to existing protection while threatening the well-being of the community.

They claim the land and its rare eco-system would be destroyed if it was used, for example, for camping or food production.

The east and northern sides of the Dale are designated as the Cressbrook Dale National Nature Reserve and are managed by Natural England, according to the campaigners who want the nature reserve to also include the western side including the Phoenix Rose land.

Campaigners say they have been delighted to hear that Natural England has recently acquired land on the west side and that the environmental and conservationist organisation has expressed interest in taking on the remaining Phoenix Rose plot with an offer to buy this land.

Rachel Elnaugh, of Phoenix Rose, who is one of three trustees including Angela Spink and Keith Parker, has been asked for a statement but at the time of publication she had not yet responded.

She has previously stated that she believes all the ‘enhancements’ made to the land that is collectively owned at Cressbrook Dale are well within lawful rights as landowners.