A quarter of a million pounds is to be spent trying to stop illegal parking near a popular Peak District hiking hotspot.
Derbyshire County Council is set to use £250,000 in transport funding from the East Midlands Combined County Authority to target problem parking at Rushup Edge past Mam Tor.
The county council, Peak District National Park Authority, High Peak Borough Council and police have been flagging issues at the route past the popular hiking spot for years.
This came to a head in January this year when a reported 200 cars were double-parked on Rushup Edge during heavy snowfall, blocking access for council gritters and emergency vehicles attempting to aid an injured walker in Edale.
At a county council cabinet meeting this week, the Reform administration is set to agree to spend £250,000 from the city regions fund, via the EMCCA, for “installation of infrastructure to better manage visitor parking on-street” in Rushup Edge.
In July, the county council had run a public consultation on restrictions in the area, including making Rushup Edge a “red route” which prohibits vehicles stopping there at any time.
There are currently no red routes in Derbyshire, the council said.
Cllr Nigel Gourlay, Conservative, county councillor for the area, said: “I’d like to pay tribute to Castleton Parish Council.
“It is through their persistence, bringing together Derbyshire County Council, Peak District National Park Authority, and The National Trust, that has kept this issue at the forefront of people’s minds.
“Still there are issues which need further work. Any resident of Castleton will tell you about the camper-vans and human excrement. But it’s incredibly good news about Rushup Edge.”
In February, the council detailed that Rushup Edge past Mam Tor saw the most parking fines of any location – 1,918 – in the most recent complete year.
James Adams, the county council’s highways network manager, told a meeting in February that boulders could be placed on either side of the road in a bid to stop problem parking.
He said a key issue on Mam Tor was a “lack of education” around road restrictions such as clearways and double-yellow lines.
Mr Adams also said motorists were frequently parking on verges in Rushup Edge where there is no restriction but is not a permitted parking space.
A key issue is the overlapping responsibilities between the county council and the Peak District National Park Authority, he said.
The county council can put road restrictions in place but it cannot ensure more car parks are built and cannot “engineer” the verges to make it impossible for people to park there, officials said.
