Last Friday the three bids for management of the Roaches estate were considered and a winning bid decided upon.
The Roaches Estate is the second parcel of land to be considered for disposal by the Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) and includes important walking routes and crags such as Hen Cloud, the Roaches, Back Forrest, The Five Clouds and Skyline.
It follows the National Trust and RSPB coming together to form the Eastern Moors Partnership to manage the Eastern Moors estate (including crags such as Froggatt and Curbar) last year, and precedes the next major estate of interest to walkers and climbers – North Lees, which includes Stanage.
This ‘asset disposal’ is a result of the PDNPA, along with many other National Parks and public bodies, having to make budget cuts. Historically the PDNPA has owned considerably more land than other National Park Authorities and as part of its cost saving review, a number of areas of its land were identified to be disposed of, through sale or lease to other organisations or individuals.
Following a year long process of consultation and putting the estate up for tender, the PDNPA’s Audit, Resources & Planning Committee met on the 25th November 2011 to decide which bid should be chosen to manage the site. Out of the three bids from the Land Trust, National Trust and Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (SWT), the SWT bid was chosen to take on management of the estate through a 125 year lease.
Local BMC access reps and keen local climbers Andi Turner, Henry Folkard, Adam Long and Neil Foster along with BMC Access & Conservation Officer Rob Dyer attended the public part of the meeting, with Andi and Henry each giving three minute speeches on the importance of the estate for climbers and walkers. We managed to capture some of their thoughts on the decision and the process in this short video clip.
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