Landscape & wider economy

The quality of the landscape and the environment of the Peak District National Park provides direct and indirect benefits across the wider economy. The majority of businesses depend on the landscape and report it having a positive impact on their performance.

Impact of quality of landscape and environment on business performance

Almost two-thirds (65%) of all Peak District businesses surveyed stated that they depended on the quality of the landscape and environment, either directly (32%) or indirectly (32%). 87% of agricultural businesses reported to be directly dependent on the landscape and environment of the Peak District. Indirect benefits, such as the ability to attract tourists and high levels of visitor trade, were reported most frequently by hotel and catering (70%) and retail businesses (69%).

Over half (56%) of all businesses felt that the quality of the landscape and environment of the Peak District had a positive impact on their business performance. The most common positive impacts listed by Peak District businesses were the ability to attract visitors who generate income (28%), increased productivity by being a nice place to work (25%), enhancing the image of the business (6%) and attracting a skilled workforce from being a nice place to live (4%). Businesses that were most likely to say the landscape and environment had no impact on their performance included the motor trade (63%), construction (59%) and wholesale (58%) ^[1].

Impact of national park designation on business performance

Across the Peak District, more than half (53%) of all businesses surveyed stated that National Park designation had a positive impact on their business, with less than one in five (19%) responding that it had affected the business negatively. Hotel and catering businesses were most likely to report a positive overall impact from national park designation (91%), in line with being most likely to report indirect benefits resulting from the quality of the environment. Interestingly, despite 87% of agricultural businesses in the PDNP reporting to be dependent on the landscape and environment, they are the most likely to report negative impacts on their business from designation (41%).

Of all businesses that reported negative effects from being located in a designated landscape, 33% mentioned planning restrictions as a negative impact, along with 7% who reported poor rural infrastructure ^[1:1].

Value of the Peak District to the region

The Peak District National Park and Derbyshire supports a tourism sector worth £2.3 billion to the wider local economy in 2018, up by 7.4% on the previous year. This sector supported over 30,000 jobs during 2018, an increase of 5.2% on the previous year ^[2].

Studies have looked at the ‘halo effect’ of protected landscapes ^[3], where surrounding areas enjoy equal or even greater levels of employment or income resulting from their proximity. Tourism businesses in particular benefit from the economic activity generated by local visitor economies, with the industry nationally estimated to support at least an additional 20,000 (FTE) jobs overall in the wider areas of influence outside English national park boundaries.

Tourists and investors alike tend to respond to the Peak District as a brand and a general area rather than a specific bounded geographical area. This helps tourism businesses based outside the Park benefit from the attraction and the volume of visitors, including in market towns such as Buxton. Buxton in particular is heavily reliant upon the visitor economy ^[4].

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)

Several LEPs cover the Peak District: D2N2, Sheffield City Region, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, Leeds City Region, Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Warrington. They have a very clear agenda to drive economic growth, with job creation and higher value-added economic activity targets.

The Peak District economy has been the subject of research to evidence its current position. This shows the significant economic contributions that it makes, including:

• Annual gross value added (GVA) of £3.8bn (2010), equivalent to 11% of the GVA of the D2N2 LEP area, 14% of Sheffield City Region, and 24% of the Stoke and Staffordshire LEP area
• Average productivity levels per full time equivalent (FTE) workplace employee in the wider Peak District are above those of some LEP areas and equal to that of D2N2
• A strong manufacturing base accounts for some 16% of workplace employment in the wider Peak District and with some particular strengths in manufacturing subsectors such as food, metal products and machinery/equipment
• Strong business survival rates, with 58% of new Peak District firms surviving at least four years, well above the LEP average
• A highly skilled workforce, with the number of residents having Level 4 qualifications, at 31%, being above the LEP average (and conversely lower levels of residents with no qualifications, at 14%)
• A high quality rural environment offering unrivalled quality of life – safe, clean and green with high performing schools, good leisure facilities, little congestion and great countryside.

The wider Peak District supports the following LEPs’ priorities:

• D2N2 priority sectors: Derbyshire Dales and High Peak make a significant contribution to food and drink manufacturing, the visitor economy and in advanced manufacturing sectors.
• Sheffield City Region priority sectors: Derbyshire Dales offers an ideal location for creative and cultural businesses.
• Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire priority sectors: Staffordshire Moorlands makes a considerable contribution to the manufacturing sector and sub-sector priorities (advanced manufacturing and applied materials), as well as the visitor economy priority.

What are the gaps in our research & data?

• Understanding the value of national parks: What is the value of protected landscapes to the international tourism industry?
• Comparing the economies of protected landscape areas with other similar areas: Lessons could be learned and applied to rural economies (e.g. what appear to be the good traits of protected landscape economies; how other rural areas could achieve these traits; and, conversely, how rural areas avoid any disbenefits).

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1. SQW: Value of Peak District economy to the East Midlands Economy (2008) ↩︎ ↩︎

2. Visit Peak District & Derbyshire: press release 4 Sep 2019 ↩︎

3. National Parks England: https://landscapesforlife.org.uk/application/files/9315/5552/1970/Economic-Contribution-of-Protected-Landscapes-Final-Report-2 ↩︎

4. Enterprise Peak District: Peak District Outline Economic Growth Package ↩︎