YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!

The Derbyshire County Council is attempting to blitz the problems it has caused itself by ignoring the community about the disposal of Elvaston Castle, using steam roller tactics to do so. Recently, a series of measures has been carried out by the County Council in its haste to rid itself of Elvaston Castle and one which every citizen who loves the Park should be concerned about has recently been published.

However, more has now followed. On Friday, September 28, 2007, in the Derby Evening Telegraph, in the public notices section, was notice of an application (Reference Number 9 2007 1079U) to South Derbyshire District Council, the planning authority for Elvaston. It states the following applied for;

Change of use to cricket field of pastureland adjacent to Elvaston Cricket Ground, Elvaston Castle Country Park, Elvaston, affecting the setting of Elvaston Historic Garden, Elvaston Castle and Golden Gates, Grade 2 listed, Church of Bartholomew, Grade 1 Listed Building.

Elvaston Cricket Club has been given the go ahead by the DCC to apply for planning permission on land which is at present Country Park and for which, should it be successful, the Parkland will be sub-leased to the club for part of the year by the owner of the stables. Previously, it has only been leased out to the stables owner, by the DCC, as grazing land for horses, a natural, pastoral event. If the application is allowed it will also become an extra cricket pitch and the application states the intention to level the mediaeval ridge and furrow area of the field, should it be allowed.

We congratulate the members of the Elvaston Cricket Club for their many outstanding achievements in recent years, and support local sports clubs and their activities and would like to see the Club's expansion fully catered for, but we would like to see alternative sites for an extra pitch explored more thoroughly prior to any work beginning. The Friends believe that there are areas more suitable for an extra pitch than the corner field. We also believe that no developments should go ahead in the Park which have not been discussed and agreed to by, the entire community, especially where it is in areas which possess a beauty and tranquility of their own, which this area definitely does. Further to this however, the field contains the remains of a mediaeval ridge and furrow ploughing system. If a new pitch is built on this field it will set a precedent for the developer to take the whole of the remaining mediaeval fields on the Estate for golf courses. Protection of the ridge and furrow is, therefore, paramount. Hilary Taylor, in a Conservation Plan commissioned by the Council in support of a Heritage Lottery Grant application and updated in 2004, states;

'The future of the landscape will depend on the nature of its long term management. A predominantly pastoral regime is appropriate and should be maintained wherever possible. None of the fields which display any ridge and furrow should come under the plough or be turned in any way.'

And;

'At all times, care should be taken, when digging or renewing drains, not to cause unnecessary damage to the ridge and furrow of the adjacent fields or Park and Gardens.

(Hilary Taylor Landscape Associates Ltd., Conservation Plan, Section 6, Conflict and Vulnerabilities: Identification and Response, 6.2.1, Landscape Fabric).

We hope that common sense prevails and that the sustainable future of the entire Estate, taking into account the needs of ALL users is decided upon soon, following an open, honest and transparent public consultation.

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