Photo: Chris Gilbert.

People visiting, working and living in the Peak District National Park today are immersed in a lived-in landscape that has been shaped by people for thousands of years. Here, human activity can be traced back for more than 30,000 years, with caves revealing the tools used and animals hunted by our Palaeolithic ancestors. With one of the richest concentrations of prehistoric monuments in the country, explorers can glimpse the lives of past communities, their lost traditions and ancient beliefs displayed through stone circles, burial mounds and hillforts.

Some of the diverse cultural heritage is prominent within the landscape, from the Bronze Age Nine Ladies stone circle to the eleventh century Peveril Castle and the great estate houses of Chatsworth, Haddon Hall and Lyme Park in their iconic parkland settings. Generations of farmers have created a rich tapestry of surviving farmsteads, unique field patterns and historic dry stone walls that criss-cross the landscape. Past industry has left quarries, mills, weirs, railways and limekilns, many of which can be explored today. Approach the dark silhouette of Magpie Mine, visible on the skyline, and discover the remains of a lead mine that has stood here for over 300 years.

Trade and transport routes, vital to people and industry throughout the years, have also left their marks on the landscape. Waymarked turnpike roads, packhorse routes and saltways are still visible. The historic green lanes now used for recreation were once main travelling routes. Cycle the Tissington Trail and follow a Victorian railway route that transported Peak District minerals and produce from farms, cottage industries and mills to the rest of the nation. Travel the long, straight road between Ashbourne and Buxton and marvel that this was a route used by Roman legionaries. Walk ancient tracks like the Long Causeway and trace the footsteps of medieval ancestors.

The landscape itself bears witness to these past lives, having been transformed by people. The Peak District National Park’s famous grassy dales and open moorland have been largely created by people and their industry; moulded by over 10,000 years of woodland clearance and thousands of years of agricultural development. Subsequent industries supporting generations of local people have further shaped the landscape, leaving distinctive imprints in managed woodlands, mine shafts, meadows, quarry faces and lead rakes. Many of these have become unique habitats.

This transformation continues today with valuable woodland, grassland and moorland habitats being restored through landscape-scale projects.

Key data trends

Human impacts on the landscape, in particular farming and land management, significantly contribute towards the special qualities of the National Park, creating a unique sense of place, as well as local, regional and even national identity. The area’s cultural heritage underpins the Peak District National Park’s landscapes and influences its social, economic and environmental development.

The impact of farming and land management on Peak District landscapes is significant. Around 84% of the total area of the National Park is farmed land. Farmers and land managers are essential to looking after and securing a future for many of the special qualities of the National Park. However, future farm sustainability is dependent on business viability and resilience, which often means relying on diversification and support payments.

Furthermore, the pressures on land and water are increasing and these resources need managing to deliver their benefits such as food, clean water, flood mitigation, habitats, wildlife, cultural heritage, recreation, natural beauty, carbon sequestration and storage. The landscape of the National Park has an important role to play in providing these ecosystem services and public goods

The Peak District’s landscape character has been shaped by historical and current agricultural practices:

• The Peak District’s landscape has been shaped by farming practices from the Neolithic period onwards, including post-medieval agricultural practices and enclosure.
• Agricultural practices have been a major contributor to current landscape character.

Farming is the main form of land management in the Peak District:

• 87% of the Peak District is farmed. The total farmed area has remained stable between 2009 and 2016, although the total number of farm holdings has decreased by nearly 200. The numbers of commercial dairy farms decreased by 35% between 2009 and 2016.
• 91% of farming land use in the Peak District is permanent grass and rough grazing. Permanent grass has increased by 17% in the last 8 years.
• The most significant agricultural activity is dairy farming and grazing livestock. Between 2009 and 2016, cattle numbers remained relatively stable with a decrease of 1%. Sheep were the most numerous farming livestock in 2016, increasing by 5% from 2009. Poultry has shown the largest variation in stock levels with a 15% change from 2009.
• There are over 3,000 small farm holdings in the Peak District, which are likely to have a big impact on the landscape.

Farm incomes and subsidies are changing:

• Total income from farming is decreasing in the Peak District, particularly for dairy farms which decreased by 33% on average.
• Peak District farmers and land managers receive approximately £20m/£30m per year from the current Basic Payment Scheme.
• Environmental Stewardship (ES) brought in approximately £7.4 million of annual funding from Natural England to the Peak District National Park.
• Currently 61% of Peak District land is covered by Countryside and Environmental Stewardship.
• In 2018/19, total income from diversified activities was £740 million, a 6% increase from 2017/18.

Farming is an important form of employment in the Peak District:

• At least one in every 10 jobs in the Peak District is in farming, showing how important the sector is to the local area.
• As well as shaping the landscape directly, farming has shaped the landscape’s character through traditional agricultural buildings and dwellings that typify the area.

Quarrying has also shaped the Peak District’s landscape character:

• The exploitation of stone and mineral resources, especially limestone and gritstone, has shaped the Peak District landscape since prehistoric times and continues to do so.

Other land management also shapes the landscape:

• 33% of the National Park is protected by site designations such as Special Protection Areas (SPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) which affect how the land is managed.
• Many environmental NGOs (non-governmental organisations) own nature reserves that they manage for the benefit of wildlife and habitats as well as the people who visit them.
• Some commercial organisations, such as grouse moor managers and utility companies, manage land for the benefit of their customers.

The Peak District has a relatively small amount of woodland:

• 8% (11,328 hectares) of the Peak District is woodland, compared with 13% of the UK. The total area of woodland in the Peak District increased by 200 ha since 2013 to 11,328 ha in 2020. Over the last 10 years, the area of woodland has increased by an average of 2,000 ha per year.
• Approximately 55% of woodland is classed as broad-leaved forest and 45% is classed as coniferous forest.
• Two thirds of woodland is classed as in active management.
• The majority of woodland creation in the Peak District is funded through national agri-environment schemes.

The Peak District’s cultural heritage assets tell the story of those who have lived and worked in the area:

• These cultural heritage assets shape the character of the landscape and include industrial buildings, farming buildings, traditional accommodation, places of worship, estates and fortifications from prehistory to today.

The way people have travelled across the Peak District has also shaped the area’s character:

• Roads, tracks and paths dating back as far as the prehistoric era form a network across the landscape.
• Eighteenth-century stone guidestoops can be found on remoter parts of older routes giving directions and distances to key market destinations.

Despite their importance, the vast majority of cultural heritage assets in the Peak District has no statutory protection:

• Less than 5% of the cultural heritage features within the National Park currently have any form of statutory protection (designation).

A small number of cultural heritage assets in the Peak District are at risk:

• There are 2,143 listed buildings within the Peak District National Park, a decrease from 2,157 in 2014/15. Currently, 158 Grade II buildings are on the PDNPA’s Buildings at Risk Register. There are currently five listed buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register within the Peak District (0.2% of the total amount). This figure has remained constant over the last 4 years.
• There are 473 scheduled monuments within the Peak District National Park, nine of which are currently on the Heritage at Risk register. The PDNP has 1.5% of total scheduled monuments at risk, which is considerably lower than the English national parks’ average of 8.2%.

Drivers for change

Climate change

Climate change is already altering landscapes in the Peak District. To date, climate change impacts include increased temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, increased frequency of extreme events such as flooding and changes to the start and length of seasons. This is predicted to negatively affect many habitats within the Peak District and, consequently, many landscapes. Additionally, human responses to climate change, particularly changes to agricultural practices, could have profound effects on some landscapes.

Climate change may be a significant threat to cultural heritage assets such as listed buildings and heritage sites. They are likely to face direct impacts as a result of changing climactic and weather conditions, as well as indirect impacts through potentially harmful adaptation and mitigation measures.

Agriculture and land management

The way the land is managed impacts the landscape of the Peak District, with farming subsidies having a significant impact. Currently, the future UK environmental land management scheme is still being developed. This means that it is uncertain how subsidies will impact the future landscape. Agriculture and land management can also impact cultural heritage assets; for instance, changes in farming practices is a key factor leading to redundancy in historic agricultural buildings and scheduled monuments are vulnerable to plant growth and scrub and tree growth.

Development

Despite being a national park, the Peak District is not immune from development pressure. Although the population is relatively small at around 38,000 residents, there is continual demand for additional housing, especially affordable housing to support local communities, large agricultural buildings, retail and other business premises. Other development pressures include upgrades to road infrastructure to accommodate increasing road traffic, renewable energy infrastructure and expansion of extractive industries to meet growing national demand. Such development can negatively impact landscapes and cultural heritage by physically altering or destroying it.

Recreation and tourism

Enabling visitors to enjoy the Peak District is an important aspect of achieving the purposes of a national park. However, large number of visitors, especially at high intensity ‘honeypot’ sites, can exacerbate issues that have a negative impact on landscapes and cultural heritage such as erosion along popular access routes, vandalism or erosion of important monuments and buildings and causing fires.

Covid-19

We do not yet fully understand the impact of Covid-19 on Peak District landscapes but is likely to be very variable and it may be some time until the data reflects the true impact of Covid-19.

Covid-19’s impact on the farming industry in the Peak District has not yet been quantified, but there are a number of ways in which it is likely to have been affected :

• Travel restrictions
• Reduction in seasonal labour availability
• Pause in agricultural markets
• Drop in diversification incomes e.g. farm shops, holiday cottages and B&Bs
• Changes to the food supply chain e.g. panic buying, the closure of food establishments and consequent falling prices
• Covid-19 outbreaks in food processing plants, sometimes leading to their closure and meaning farmers can’t send their produce for processing.

Additionally, many professional heritage businesses have furloughed at least some of their staff and are unable to provide all of their typical services; for instance much site project work (e.g. archaeological surveys and historic building recording) has been halted. Covid-19 has also led to a huge fall in volunteering, which has impacted many landscape improvement projects and cultural heritage organisations where volunteers are key.

• Many heritage attractions and smaller businesses receive little or no core funding and rely heavily (or solely) on income generated by visitors. Income generation ceased instantly upon lockdown.
• The multi-disciplinary nature of the sector means that impacts will be felt widely, across a huge range of disciplines, organisations and individuals.

Landscape restoration

A potentially positive driver for landscape change across the Peak District is landscape restoration. Landscape restoration can have a positive impact on habitats and species within the Peak District by restoring the landscape to repair damage caused by issues such as pollution and intensive agriculture. A large amount of restoration work has been and continues to be delivered through landscape-scale projects such as the Moors for the Future Partnership on the Dark Peak moorlands. The South West Peak Landscape Partnership and the White Peak Partnership are also carrying out landscape restoration in other parts of the Peak District.

Policy and government

Landscapes Review The Landscapes Review, which reported to the UK government in 2019, reviewed UK protected landscapes (national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty) and set proposals for their improvement. A whole section of the report focuses on landscapes: “Landscapes Alive for Nature and Beauty”

The Environment Bill and the 25 Year Environment Plan Both the Environment Bill and 25 Year Environment Plan will impact landscapes in the Peak District. For instance, the Environment Bill will require all areas in England to establish Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs). The LNRSs will help bring a broad range of groups together – from farmers to businesses to local communities – to deliver priorities for nature recovery at a local and national level. The pilots will also help kick-start the creation of over a million acres of habitats for wildlife . And a flagship element of the 25 Year Environment Plan will be a new Nature Recovery Network, which will benefit people, landscapes and wildlife by increasing, improving and joining-up wildlife-rich places across England .

Brexit and ELMS With the UK leaving the EU, a new Environmental Land Management Scheme is being developed that will subsidise farmers for specific actions. Trials are currently underway to determine what the scheme will consist of and one of the trials is taking place in all three national character areas of the Peak District.

Data gaps that remain

Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive data regarding the Peak District’s landscape and no standard methodology for monitoring its state. Without an accurate picture of the current state, conserving and enhancing the PDNP’s landscapes will prove difficult, so expanding data and developing a methodology for monitoring is of vital importance. This piece of work has begun and is being led by the PDNPA, but it is still in early development.

Prompted by the development of the new environmental land management scheme (ELM) and potential changes in farming and agricultural practices, we need to understand how effective heritage protection has been in the past and how/if it can be improved for future schemes. We also need to better understand and articulate the ‘value’ of heritage and the role(s) heritage can play in the delivery of ‘public goods’.

Further research is needed to quantify the enhancement or protection of landscape and built environment features through the monitoring of relevant planning policies.