Derbyshire protesters who are fighting to preserve woodland from a planned holiday park have been honoured with a top award for their ‘inspiring’ group campaign.
The Save Farley Moor campaigners have held a series of events and activities among continued efforts to highlight their opposition to Forest Holidays’ planning application to Derbyshire Dales District Council to build 75 cabins in 140 acres of woodland at Farley Moor, off Farley Lane, near Matlock.
Following the campaign group’s launch in October, last year, it has attracted at least 3,000 petition signatures and highlighted the need to protect the location of a nearby ceremonial site dating back to the Bronze Age before recently being crowned as winner of the Inspiring Groups’ category of The Countryside Charity CPRE’s Living Countryside Awards.
A spokesperson for CPRE, formerly known as the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, told the campaigners: “The work you do to protect and enhance our beautiful Derbyshire countryside is commendable, and we were impressed by your commitment and achievements, particularly from growing as a group objecting to the planning application to hosting monthly community events, creating an app, and your recent Time Team dig.”
Save Farley Moor campaigners have held a popular woodland walk and they have hosted other well-attended community events in the forest including a dawn chorus guided bird walk, a dusk guided bird walk and a pastels art class.
They also highlighted the discovery of a single standing stone monument on moorland at a ceremonial site at Farley Wood, near Matlock, after TV’s Time Team archaeologists confirmed that the 6ft 6ins tall Farley Moor standing stone monument is part of a larger ceremonial site dating back 3,700 years to the Bronze Age.
Despite the campaigners’ hopes that this discovery will reinforce the importance of preserving the area from development, Forestry England – which operates as the landlord to Forest Holidays – says it is confident the ceremonial circle will be unaffected by the holiday park development and that it will not stop the plans.
The controversial scheme includes nine one-bed cabins, 35 two-bed cabins, 22 three-bed cabins, five four-bed cabins and four five-bed treehouse cabins to accommodate 185 people, a car park, reception, shop, cafe, maintenance building and outdoor play area, a ranger station, storage pods, recycling points, ancillary roads, paths, and an archery range.
But campaigners have objected to the plans claiming they will create potential noise and light pollution, a loss of trees and wildlife, increase traffic congestion and pose road safety and access problems.
Other concerns include the disturbance of land releasing peat into the atmosphere, flooding and surface run-off water from the scheme, and the over-saturation of the area’s holiday market.
However, Forest Holidays has stated the scheme will create new jobs and be sensitive to the environment with a management plan for a more diverse forest canopy with some necessary tree removal to minimise blight infection and it claims there will be an enhancement to change the woodland from coniferous pine to a more continuous cover, native woodland.
And Forestry England says it has been advised the development will have no adverse effect upon the highway and no safety concerns are expected and enhancements have been proposed at an access point off Farley Lane.
It has also previously claimed overall proposals have been designed to deliver ‘biodiversity net gain’ and there will be ‘no adverse impact or loss of habitat’ and lighting will be carefully considered.
Derbyshire Dales District Council’s planning committee is due to decide upon Forest Holidays’ planning application but, according to the Save Farley Moor campaigners, the council has been pursuing further data on the scheme’s potential biodiversity net gain and it has not yet been scheduled into a meeting.
