Background

Cressbrook Dale is a beautiful limestone valley in one of the most beautiful parts of England. It lies between Bakewell and Buxton, in the Peak District National Park and forms part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve. It has an extraordinary Natural History and is dear to the people who live here. It is also a favourite of walkers and holidaymakers. The dale is – or was – an unspoiled area of natural woodland and a refuge for many species of plant and animal, some extremely rare indeed. It is crossed by a number of Public Footpaths, it incorporates an area of Access Land (CROW Act)  and all of the woodland is protected by a Group Tree Preservation Order. It borders both Cressbrook Dale National Nature Reserve and Cressbrook Dale Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI). The area also enjoys 'Natural Zone' designation, the most highly protected status within the National Park. Development in the Natural Zone, other than in exceptional circumstances, is not permitted. No exceptional circumstances apply in this case. Find out more in About Cressbrook Dale

To the residents the Dale is a place of calm and beauty in an often troubling world. For many it’s why they chose to live here. For others it’s always been home. 

The village of Cressbrook, population ~175 people, lies immediately adjacent to the dale. In June 2022 the villagers woke up to find that a vast swath of the dale had been sold to a group of people led by a one-time TV personality. The group were deliberately opaque about their aims but it’s since become clear that they believe in some kind of food apocalypse, a social breakdown, a “great reset” as it’s been called and a conspiracy by the World Economic Forum. To save themselves and everyone else they will live and grow food in the woods and feed us all.

The villagers of Cressbrook and adjacent communities do not feel any need to be saved and we are very worried about the impact that the scheme may have – and is already having – both on this delicate and valuable part of the area’s natural ecology and on our own peace and well-being. Already the group have used an earth-mover on site, a car-park has been built, turf dug up to create a path and make flat areas for structures, water-courses have been altered. There are plans to hold festivals and for camping on the site. More recent plans include selling off plots of land measuring 8 metres squared at a cost of £8000 making the value of the land approximately half a million pounds an acre. For this the 'investors' are told they have exclusive rights to the plot and will be able to stay on it whenever they want to. 

For more information please refer to our FAQ page.

What we are doing about it

We have set up a village-wide group and our mission statement is....

To prevent or minimise any changes which may adversely affect Cressbrook Dale and the village of Cressbrook as a result of a change in land ownership. We will pay special attention to:

• the safeguarding of the flora and fauna of Cressbrook Dale. 

• the village community - which encompasses Cressbrook itself as well as Litton Slack, New Houses and Ravensdale - its celebrations, traditions and well-being 

• the much celebrated tranquility of the area.

We will achieve this by:

• developing a comprehensive and supportive communications system for the community.

• creating a repository for people’s personal reflections on Cressbrook and Cressbrook Dale.

• liaising with appropriate organisations to record the existing flora and fauna.

• monitoring and recording any changes as they occur.

• reporting any changes to the relevant authorities.

Our methods are entirely peaceful and our objective is to halt this development legally. There is enough protective legislation in place to halt and reverse what is happening. It is held and implemented by the Peak District National Park Authority and Natural England, who are the major stakeholders in the future of the dale. We act as the eyes and ears on the ground to record and report what is happening so that the appropriate enforcement actions can be enacted by those that hold the power to do so. 

But this will take time and it is very hard for us to watch the dale being destroyed so we are also communicating with you in the surrounding communities and you the wider public to help you to understand what is happening and to inform you that events are being challenged and that action is being taken and to encourage you to join us in our campaign. We have already received a huge amount of support from many of you; our friends and neighbours in Litton, Littonmill, Great Longstone, Tideswell, Wardlow and beyond as well as those of you who used to live here and those of you visiting or simply passing through, showing that our feelings about the situation in the dale are shared. We are also proactively educating people about what makes the dale so special and recording peoples' emotional responses to the recent events, (see our Testimonies Page).

Why are we doing this?

Everyone now understands how important nature is for our health and well being. Well, the reverse is also true, when you destroy nature you catastrophically affect health and well being. We're doing it because we've been so emotionally traumatised by what has happened. It is very hard to watch as lorry loads of gravel are delivered, as a digger scrapes away wildflowers destroying habitats and as you discover that your new and very close neighbours have no regard for your feelings, health and well being, for the preciousness of the land and for the institutions set up to protect what is so important to all of us.

Witnessing what is taking place in the Dale compels us to act. We are acting because the integrity of the dale supercedes everything. It was there before us, it has been there for us while we have lived here and we feel that it is imperative that it be there for the people who come after us, and for all of the people who access this beautiful and special part of the Peak District National Park.

What we have achieved so far

Once it became clear that destructive activities were starting to happen in the dale, we began reporting these activities to both Natural England and the Peak District National Park Authority. We have also engaged with a wide range of other bodies who would have in interest in what is happening including;

• Derbyshire Wildlife Trust

• Tideswell & District Environmental Group

• CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire

• The Woodland Trust

• The National Trust

• Derbyshire Dales District Council

• Derbyshire County Council (including the Highways Authority)

• The Environment Agency

• Severn Trent

• The Ramblers Association

• British Mountaineering Council

• Litton Parish Council

• Our local MP

Although some of these organisations are only indirectly interested in what is happening in Cressbrook Dale, to all of them it is imperative to avoid a very dangerous precedent being set - The laws that protect such sensitive places like Cressbrook Dale must be seen to work .

We are doing everything we can to help the organisations that implement the law to succeed in their work.

Both the Peak District National Park Authority and Natural England have consulted with the owners to advise them on what they can and can't do in such a sensitive location, what laws they need to observe and what permissions they need to seek before embarking on their activities. 

Subsequent to these meetings the owners have ignored all of the advice given to them and pushed ahead with groundworks on the site. 

This has so far resulted in the following significant actions;

• On Friday the 22nd July 2022 the Peak District National Park Authority issued an emergency Tree Preservation Order (TPO) that covered all the remaining woodland in the dale not already covered by the existing Group TPO, which dated from 1957 and was only the second TPO to ever be struck within the National Park.

• The Emergency TPO was transferred into a permanent extension to the existing TPO on the 15th January 2023, meaning that nearly all of the woodland in Cressbrook Dale is now protected

• On Monday the 25th July 2022 the Peak District National Park issued a Temporary Stop Notice (TSN) to the group. This powerful piece of legislation makes it illegal for the group to execute any more work on the land without seeking the relevant Planning Consents.

• The National Park Authority also issued the group with a Planning Contravention Notice (PCN).  This is a request that the group inform the authority about how they intend complying with planning regulations. The group have a legal obligation to respond to a PCN within 21 days of its issue. To date the group have failed to respond to the PCN and it is still in force.

• On the 6th April 2023 the Peak District National Park issued an Enforcement Notice to the owners of the land. The notice requires the landowners to restore the land that they have altered in building the steps, the path to the tipi, the tipi itself and the car park.

Although both TPO and TSN were published, issued to the land's trustees and put up on the land at multiple points on the perimeter the owners took them down and have repeatedly taken them down despite them being renewed by the Authority. This is of no matter in a legal sense because the Orders have been issued and apply regardless but it does reinforce the idea that the new owners have no regard for the protections put in place to safeguard the land they now own. To the best of our knowledge the group have not responded to any requests for compliance by the National Park Authority, believing that co-operation lends legitimacy to a process that they don't recognise and reject outright. Processes that those of us who live and work in the Peak Park comply with because despite sometimes seeming obstructive we understand why these processes are in place and the protective function they perform. Processes which if ignored can lead to uncontrolled and destructive practices.

We will see whether and how Phoenix Rose react to the Enforcement Notice published on the 6th April.