Back on 30th January 2024, Lyme Park announced its intention to withdraw plans for a new and significantly larger car park in the green space near the Knott. A few days later, the planning application on the Peak District portal was duly withdrawn, exactly as 1,500 of us asked.

There’s been no news on further proposals since then, so I thought it about time to close this petition and declare victory, we hope. Not for us, but for the future of Lyme. All credit to them, the National Trust seem to have listened. They realised the ridiculous car park plans were completely at odds with their own climate ambitions, were wrong for this park and landscape, were bad for visitors and wildlife, were doing nothing but damaging their brand and local support. And probably, most importantly, didn’t have a hope in hell of passing through Peak District planning.

Different proposals will probably be tabled at some point, hopefully not just a slight rehash. There’s still a need to improve visitor entry at Lyme. The existing car park, if it’s to stay there — with its lack of green screening and sadly culverted stream — now needs softening and clarifying. Improvements to catering are long overdue and would boost Lyme’s income better than any multi-million-pound car park.

Whatever happens next, I hope Lyme and the National Trust have learnt from this to actually engage with the local visitors who cherish these special places. We should’ve never needed to petition against an organisation most of us so strongly admire, if only they’d asked and listened before coming up with such an absurd scheme. Instead they and their useless “Land Studio” agency then resorted to lies and greenwashing to cover the damage it’d do.

Thanks to all those hundreds of you who submitted objections and squirrelled away behind the scenes to get the word out and gather research. It’s thanks to all of you, that majestic little group of trees in the photo above will not be surrounded square-on by ugly gravel car parking. Every time you pass them, make sure to think: YOU saved that view — for everyone, for ever.