Losehill Hall

Losehill Hall

Green Party members in the Peak District have thrown their weight behind the campaign to save an education centre threatened with closure.

Officers from the Peak District National Park Authority recommended the shutting of Losehill Hall near Castleton to save an estimated £300,000 a year. But an authority meeting on Friday put off a decision on the centre’s future to give time to find potential partners in the running of the hall, and to gauge public opinion.

Derbyshire Green Party said today in a statement: “On 10 and 24 September, the swingeing cuts came home, to hit the country’s favourite national park – the Peak District. The national park movement’s excellent study centre, at Losehill Hall, is proposed for closure. The local economy will also be hit by about £2m a year.”

John Youatt, a Green Party activist, and retired national park worker, added:”How do my Liberal Democrat friends live with themselves? They are still underwriting the most savage Government since the 1980s, in denial of the collapse of the world’s ecosystems.

“Some of my best moments were spent introducing enthusiastic young people at Losehill Hall to the planning system. Ivor Morten, the authority’s best ever vice chairman, who set up Losehill Hall and endowed it in his will, will be turning in his grave.

“Perhaps someone should check whether Ivor had the foresight to protect his investment in Losehill Hall?”

“At the same time the coalition Government is proposing to slash – its word – the feed-in tariffs, according to energy minister Charles Hendry. FITs are on the point of making millions of buildings into very low carbon power stations – companies are queuing up to put solar panels on roofs.”

Mr Youatt also criticised the proposal to kill off independent bodies such as the Commission for Rural Communities and said the Government was threatening to merge Ed Miliband’s highly successful Department for Climate Change into a retrogressive Department for Energy.

He continued: “There are those in the coalition who want to protect their friends at the dirty, insecure and dangerous end of power generation – to support coal, gas, oil and nuclear power, by depressing renewable energy.”

The Derbyshire Green Party said it welcomed the national park’s statement, saying it shows that is has been forced to take a more positive approach.

Some articles the site thinks might be related:

  1. Peak fund grant will help create Kinder Trespass archive
  2. Challenge walkers needed to aid mountain rescue team
  3. Plea for walkers to pack a torch after night-time rescue
  4. Snow leads to closure of Peak District Pennine routes
  5. Injured Peak District mountain biker meets lifesaving ‘mystery walker’