How to use this report

Welcome to the Peak District National Park State of the Park Report. Here you will find a number of reports that are structured by Peak District special quality. These can be accessed on the left hand menu of this screen.

This report is for individuals or organisations with an interest in the PDNP. It has been produced to help people understand the key characteristics of data within the PDNP. The report summarises a wide range of technical information, research and local knowledge. Anyone with a special interest in a particular theme or data topic can request supporting technical information by contacting the Peak District National Park Authority using the email address research@peakdistrict.gov.uk.

This report summarises data, reports and insight into various topics in the PDNP to inform and support delivery of the PDNP Management Plan, Development Plan and strategies including the Authority’s Corporate Strategy.

Wherever possible, data will relate to the area within the PDNP boundary. However, this will not always be possible due to temporal and spatial constraints of all the research and data available.

Monitoring special qualities and the State of the Park Report

The Peak District National Park was designated because it exhibits a range of special qualities which are of national, and sometimes international, significance. At the heart of the statutory purpose for the Peak District National Park is the need to clearly express these special qualities, and evidence their condition.

In developing and implementing policies for the planning and management of their areas, Authorities should document and clearly express the special qualities of the Park and the status and condition of these qualities. Authorities are expected to continue to seek to ensure the conservation of the natural beauty of the area for which they are responsible. (para 21 & 22: National Parks Circular 2010)

National Park Authorities are expected to lead by compiling the State of the Park report. This should provide an assessment of the special qualities and the current state of the Park. It should consider:

• issues affecting the health of the natural resources of air, biodiversity, soil and water;
• how these special qualities are enjoyed and by whom;
• the economic and social well-being of Park communities insofar as this is connected to the Authority pursuing Park purposes.

Monitoring Approach

Our decision making is based on the best available data and analysis. In collating this information, a significant amount of data comes from partners and external sources. The evidence is broad and the research we produce includes:

1. Economic, social and cultural
2. Environmental and the natural environment
3. Operational research

Key documents that will shape our monitoring approach:

• Measuring environmental change: outcome indicator framework for the 25 Year Environment Plan (opens new window)
• Landscapes review: National Parks and AONBs (opens new window)
• Evidence in Natural England: Our evidence strategy (NE340) (opens new window)
• Framework for monitoring environmental outcomes in protected landscapes (NERR055) (opens new window)

Principles for the management of Category V protected areas

As part of the family of Category V protected areas, the principles that should guide the management of the Peak District National Park should include:

• Conserving landscape, biodiversity and cultural values as the central focus of the Category V protected area approach.
• Focusing management at the point of interaction between people and nature.
• Seeing people as stewards of the landscape.

How we monitor

Effective policy making and evaluation is based on robust evidence. Evidence helps to guide decisions, from issues of national policy to choices about individual site management. We will approach monitoring through:

• identifying the pressures and issues affecting the special qualities of the National Park;
• ensuring that the National Park Authority and other stakeholders are aware of these issues;
• ensuring that appropriate long term data collection and monitoring mechanisms are in place to review management decisions and actions made in the NPMP
• collaborating with partners and universities to develop and refine our evidence base over time
• prioritising evidence that will have greatest impact on our current policy
• getting the greatest impact from our data by focusing on how we tell the story and how we put data in context to the right audience.

Working with partners

Many of the relevant data sets and other information are held by partner organisations. Some data sets are out of date or missing. These issues will be raised throughout the State of the Park report to guide future monitoring and research ambitions and priorities.

Often data has been used that has been cut to different boundaries or does not cover the full National Park area. This is due to availability of data, but in some cases helps show a wider picture of the state of the landscape beyond the boundaries of the Park. National data has also been used to help provide the wider context to which the National Park Management Plan will sit.

National parks have the same requirement for sound evidence to underpin their Local Development Frameworks as other Local Planning Authorities under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Planning Act 2008. We also have our duty, under the Environment Act 1995, to foster the economic and social wellbeing of local communities, so the same principle should be applied to all the outputs. Therefore, data providers nationally and locally have a duty under the S62 Environment Act 1995 (where national parks are considered to be local authorities) to have regard to the purposes of national parks in their decisions and actions.