Frustrations mount as popular High Peak footpath remains closed off until next year

A sign went up blocking access to Chinley Footpath 1, which is actually in Furness Vale, in April 2021 and since then signs have kept appearing pushing back the date for when it will reopen.

Walker Rebecca Guy said: “This was a well used footpath and the fact it has been shut off for years without any repairs has now gone beyond a joke.”

Rebecca says around 15m of the footpath looks like it has eroded into the River Goyt but what should be an easy fix has become a long standing problem.

She said: “This is a public footpath where people have right away even if that path passes through a farmer’s field or the bottom of someone’s garden.”

Rebecca says she has been fighting an uphill battle trying to get information about when the footpath will reopen, even submitting Freedom of Information requests to Derbyshire County Council only for them to come back less than helpful.

The footpath closed temporarily in April 2021 due to a landslip, in October 2021 work was scheduled but delayed while awaiting approval from the Environment Agency.

In 2022 Rebecca was told the work would start as long as it was not during May to November when salmon was spawning.

The work still was not completed in 2023 and on February 1 this year a new notice went up by the footpath saying the closure had been extended until February, 1 2025.

Rebeccas said: “I don’t understand why it has taken this long, and why it has been pushed back until next year which is the longest closure notice as they are normally three to six months.”

A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “When the Toddbrook Dam failed in 2019, the emergency release of water damaged a 20 metre section of embankment that supports Chinley Footpath 1.

“Since then we've been working to try to find a solution to this but unfortunately two previous options we put forward to reinstate the footpath were discounted by the Environment Agency.

“We understand it is frustrating but we’d like to reassure residents we continue to work to resolve the situation.”