Nine Ladies campaign

Note: these pages were written in 1999 and 2000, and have not been updated since - we no longer have any direct contact with the protest camp. We are maintaining the pages as a historical document only.

We are not aware of any website tracking current developments at the site. If you are, please let us know!

Peak District National Park Under Threat!

Stanton Moor Hillside is a historic and wildlife site in the Peak District, Britain's most visited National Park. As well as a Bronze Age burial site with four surviving stone circles, and the Earl Grey Tower (built in the last century to commemorate the passing of the Reform Act), it is also a wildlife haven: home to a herd of Norwegian Fallow Deer, riddled with badger setts, and also rare bat habitats.

There is currently an application (NP/DDD/0299/082) to reopen two dormant quarries (Endcliffe and Lees Cross) on the hillside below Stanton Moor. The quarries will cover about 30 acres and would have a huge impact on the hillside, with plans to quarry for the next 40 years. To try to protect the hillside we need to encourage the Peak Park to use its powers under the 1995 Environment Act to the full, and request the Secretary of State for the Environment to "call in" the application for determination.

Some of the problems with the proposals are:

Further degradation of the hillside and setting of the Nine Ladies stone circle (<a href="ninesnow.jpg">photo</a>) and Stanton Moor;
The old 1952 consent is wholly inappropriate today and runs contrary to Peak Park policies;
Dangers of quarrying on a geological landslip;
Threat to the local water table including a spring (photo) supplying local residents;
Dangerous lorry traffic and access to and from the sites;
Decimation of wildlife habitats including badger setts, bat roosts, and rare plants such as heath cud-weed;
Noise and dust pollution;
Effect on visitors and tourism.

What can you do to help?

Local residents have formed their own action committee.
Please write to:

Rt Hon John Prescott MP, Secretary of State for Environment and Transport, DETR, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DU, requesting the application be "called in", stressing this is a national issue, affecting a National Park,
Mr J Margesson, Estate Office, Haddon Hall, Bakewell, requesting that the estate reconsider the lease on Endcliffe and Lees Cross quarries.

A protest camp has also been established for the proposed quarry site: for this to work, we now need people and equipment. The Peak Park Authorities want to make things difficult for Stancliffe Stone, but Stancliffe are not likely to take this lying down.
We need tree climbers, burrowers, and experienced protesters to help secure defences. We need numbers a) to show the strength of opposition, and b) to physically protect the site against possible abuse by Stancliffe and others. (<a href="message.html">Message from the protest camp</a>, <a href="wishlist.html">Camp wish list</a>.)
Getting to the site

By train: trains run from Derby to Matlock (the nearest town to the Nine Ladies)
By bus: The R61 or TransPeak run from Derby or Nottingham towards Manchester. Get off at Rowsley and walk up the hill to the Nine Ladies. The Arriva 123 and trains run from Leicester to Derby.