Grade II listed gate pillar in Derbyshire village knocked down for 10th time

The gate pillar at the Tissington Estate in the village was destroyed by an ‘errant tractor and trailer’ about a week ago, on June 30.

This comes after the pillar was last repaired in March at a cost of £15,000 following another unfortunate incident.

Now Sir Richard FitzHerbert, the owner of the Tissington Estate is calling for ‘immediate action’ after the most recent accident.

Sir FitzHerbert said: “The discussions with the insurance company took ages. And then it took ages for the preferred contractor Mark Eaton to do the work. He did a great job in fact and it is such a shame that another errant driver has knocked them over just three months later.”

The gates were built in the 1780s as the entrance into the village off the Ashbourne-Buxton road and lead to the lime tree Avenue to the Village that is home to Tissington Hall, Herbert’s Tearooms and OnAWickandAPrayer candle emporium.

Originally the gate was set to cater for the horse and cart and nowadays it sees lorries, tractors and pantechnicons all entering the village using a satnav to get their goods delivered.

The gates are listed and so a planning application to the Peak District National Park Authority is necessary to carry out the readjustment of the gate pillars.

Sir Richard added: “The Tissington Estate is not the Highways Authority and is not responsible for making this junction safer. Only the Derbyshire County Council can do that. I have offered the gates to them for £1 but they do not seem bothered about the distress, angst and danger that this access causes.

“The Tissington Estate have been in discussions with the various planning authorities in the past but they all combine together to give the Estate more ‘hoops to jump through’ and an estimated cost of £70,000 to realign the gates is just tenable for the Estate who, it should be repeated, are not the Highway Authority.

“It seems a great shame that the Estate want to assist with a permanent solution to the problem yet others prevaricate. Urgent action is needed now.”

Following Sir Richard’s appeal we contacted the Derbyshire County Council.

Barry Lewis, Leader Councillor at Derbyshire County Council said: “We’re sorry to hear that the gates have been knocked down again.

“While the gates don’t belong to the council and are set well back from the main road and therefore not a highways issue, we are happy to work with Sir Richard to see if we can help to find a solution to stop them being damaged in the future.

“We believe the key to this lies with the Peak District National Park Authority as they would need to agree to the gates being moved and widened, which we are confident would greatly reduce the chances of them being damaged in future.

“It is a simple solution and would save a great deal of time and money which is used every time the gates are damaged.

“In the past we’ve put in a number of measures including road signing and white lining to improve safety along this stretch of the A515, which is a separate issue.”

A Peak District National Park Authority spokesperson confirmed: “Senior officers from Authority’s planning service were in contact with Sir Richard immediately following the most recent incident of gatepost damage, and we share the ongoing concerns for the gates as a result of the numerous cases of vehicle collisions.

“We have already been clear that initial options for consideration such as moving the posts to set back and increase the width of the entrance area are measures the Authority is happy to explore. This may initially be via pre-application advice process, ahead of any formal application submission.

“However, such works will require Listed Building Consent through a full planning application given the historic relationship of the gates to the Lodge, and this situation would apply in any similar circumstance throughout the National Park.

“Issues of costs, ownership and responsibility and implementation of any changes made would be a matter for the landowner and other relevant parties, not the National Park Authority.”