Peak District National Park Authority halts visitor centre closures after anonymous donor emerges

Despite public opposition, last month the authority voted to press ahead with the closure of its centres in Bakewell, Castleton, Edale and the Upper Derwent Valley, and began a formal consultation period with staff over redundancies and workforce restructuring.

But in a dramatic turn of events on Tuesday, June 5, PNDPA informed staff of a proposal from an unidentified charity which is willing to provide operational funding for the centres for the next three years, allowing time for them to become more financially sustainable.

PDNPA chief executive Phil Mulligan said: “This is certainly very good news and I appreciate the relief it will bring to the many colleagues who will have been affected by the proposals for our visitor centres so far.”

The authority has said that while conversations continue with the donor around the precise terms of the funding package, it would not be adding further comment on financial details and will respect the donor’s wishes to remain anonymous.

The money on offer is specifically related to the visitor centres, and should safeguard the jobs of those employed in that part of PDNPA’s operations.

Other elements of the restructuring programme – including potential redundancies – are still due be presented to authority members for approval at a meeting on Friday, July 28, before the changes are likely to be implemented by the end of the year.

Mr Mulligan said: “Our donor recognises that visitor centres need to be financially viable and we will need to start work straight away on creating that long-term viability.

“While we are incredibly grateful to the donor for their generous offer, our deep-seated financial challenges as an organisation do remain and other colleagues within additional teams may still be impacted in the weeks and months ahead.”

He added: “After a decade of real-terms cuts to our core government grant, it is vital that we continue to maintain a spotlight on our affordability and resilience as an authority; but this unexpected support potentially gives us time to explore and develop ways for our visitor centres to become financially sustainable in the future without such additional funding being needed.”

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