Green Light for Peak Park Neighbourhood Area

The Peak District National Park Authority has designated a new Neighbourhood Area – an important first step in local communities influencing the planning of the area in which they live and work – for the adjacent parishes of Great Hucklow and Foolow.

It is the first time that two parishes in the Peak District National Park have collaborated to achieve a single Neighbourhood Area and write a joint Neighbourhood Plan.

The designated Area incorporates the whole of both parishes, which includes the villages and hamlets of Great Hucklow, Foolow, Grindlow, Windmill, Little Hucklow and Coplowdale.

Community policy planner for the Peak District National Park Authority, Adele Metcalfe, said: “Neighbourhood Planning is about bringing people together to influence the future of the places they live and work in.

“The next step is for a Neighbourhood Plan to be developed. This is an important community-led document that carries legal weight and is part of the statutory development plan for the National Park.”

The communities will now work together to produce their joint Neighbourhood Plan setting out how they want to tackles the issues they have identified as being important.

Adele Metcalfe explained: “Over the coming months the parish council, parish meeting and local residents will examine topics such as local housing needs to sustain vibrant communities, the capacity for growth and consider opportunities for new developments, but always sensitive to the area’s historical and natural aspects and subject to the Peak District National Park’s overall planning policies.”

A map of the Great Hucklow and Foolow Neighbourhood Area can also be viewed at www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/neighbourhood-areas.

Anyone who would like to know more about Neighbourhood Planning in the Peak District National Park can contact community policy planner Adele Metcalfe on 01629 816375 or adele.metcalfe@peakdistrict.gov.uk.

Hay meadow at Foolow