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Lyme Park House (Wikimedia commons/ Julie Anne Workman/ CC BY-SA 3.0)No new bike parking but a car park with 1,065 spaces? National Trust urged to break from "car-dependant business model"
The National Trust has drawn criticism after unveiling plans to build the Peak District's largest car park — at its Lyme Park site — plans which do not include any extra provision for those wishing to visit by bike.
The announcement comes within the wider context of the National Trust having pledged to be net carbon zero by the end of the decade, something critics have said the charity will not achieve if it continues to design sites around cars and fails to move away from a "car-dependent business model".
The plan for a 1,065-space stately home car park, increased from the current 395 spaces, was first reported by the Guardian who note that 300,000 people visit the historic hunting estate each year. Car visitors to the site, which has been home to the Legh family for more than 600 years, have to pay £6 (£3 per child) and it is free to walk or cycle into the park.
However, with Disley station less than a mile from the gates — and most visitors, of which 199,945 arrived by vehicles in 2019, instead using the A6 — some have questioned if enough is being done to encourage visitors out of their cars.
The National Trust admitted that the plans do not include any extra bike parking provision and the new car park would be built next to one of the most popular walking and cycling routes into Lyme, at West Park Gate.
But the charity has insisted it is not adding any new extra spaces, merely repurposing some of its current overflow spaces which can only be used during good weather.
A petition on Change.Org calls for the National Trust to withdraw its "ill-considered application and come up with an alternative, fit-for-purpose plan for access, which truly reduces the impact of motor vehicles on this special place and has sustainable travel at its heart".
> National Trust to trial e-bikes and e-cargo bikes in bid to reach net zero carbon emissions
"No complementary measures whatsoever are included for cycling or sustainable travel and these plans would even make access more difficult for non-car visitors," the petition states.
"In fact, the plan states the pithy four main cycle parking stands will be moved further away from the hall, to the Timber Yard. Versus 1,065 car parking spaces, there would be only eight acceptable public stands to lock a bike to. There will be no new or improved paths for cycling to protect people on bikes, who will have to share narrow roads with increased vehicle traffic right through the park, including coaches, making it a much less pleasant place to cycle."
"Car-dependant business model"
Harry Gray from Walk Ride Greater Manchester said it was "concerning" that the National Trust appears to be "reliant" on a "car-dependant business model".
"It is time to invest in greener transport modes, such as better access for Active Travel, as well as park and ride links to the nearby train station. The National Trust claim they're 'part of the global fight against climate change' – yet their actions on the ground speak otherwise.
The director of policy and communications at national walking charity Living Streets, Tanya Braun, added: "We need to stop designing places around cars and start thinking about what people want and need. It's disappointing that there are no accompanying plans to improve access for people walking.
"Adding in safe and accessible walking routes will enable more people to choose to walk, helping to cut congestion and air pollution. Without improving options for more sustainable transport modes, it will force people into their cars and exclude those without access to one from enjoying National Trust properties."
The deadline for objections on the planning application has been extended to 9 May, with more than 150 already in.
A National Trust spokesperson said the changes are all about making the site "more resilient" to extreme weather.
Lyme currently has a total of 1,000 car parking spaces, but many cannot be used during wet weather. We are not increasing the overall number of spaces but we are upgrading facilities and infrastructure to make it more resilient to extreme weather events.
We've carried out preliminary ecological surveys to minimise any impact and will be reverting the existing car park to rich grassland habitat. In previous trials, park and ride hasn't reduced the overall number of visitors arriving by car, but we will continue working with groups and individuals to find more sustainable ways that people can travel to Lyme.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.
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45 comments
"...We have made the car so convenient" - driver privilege in action, you're so so close...
Convenient for whom? At what price? How big does the car park get?
Well I'm sure the NT have a good grasp on who's visiting and where their cash comes from - and are actively thinking about how to keep the show going. I suspect a LOT of NT visitors are in the older age bracket. So them being "realistic" about travel considerations - to at least ensure they exist for the next decade - is understandable. Even if they're not paying as much attention to the non-motorised as we might hope.
Given that a lot of their estate is places built by the elite, for the elite and sometimes damn the expenses though... perhaps the whole idea of sustaining such places needs careful consideration. If we're not to live beyond our collective means. It might be righteous that now all us hoi-polloi can visit these properties fairly ad-lib. Many are in places deliberately remote from population centres however.
On "sustainability" - apparently Capability Brown was so popular partly because (having worked his way up from apprentice gardener) he was good making parts of his designs functional as well as beautiful. He well understood that the whole needs to support its own upkeep. I'm sure he'd have approved of National Trust gift shops and cafes!
I agree with you. I'm just recognising that fighting that ingrained carcentricity is hard to do. Being a thought leader and having minimal parking provision may be the right thing to do, but for an organisation like NT it is also likely to deter a large part of the current customer base and threaten their short term viability.
You'd be surprised...
Sadly not!
I'd love to meet the 4 year old who can cycle 10 miles including 8% gradients carring a couple of picnic chairs and a coolbag. At least the way home is mostly downhill to Stockport.
Well that sounds like a big trip out! 8% gradients are considered a bit much for "casual cycling" in places where it's normal, like the Netherlands. Carrying kids also - give yourself an ebike - or even a couple! Maybe a Tern GSD that the road.cc folks like. And/or a bakfiets type - perhaps even an Urban Arrow?
This video of lots of people getting around with small children isn't recorded in the UK. It could look like that in more places here though if we choose (via heckling our governors and other organisations). That'll be too late for most current 4 year-olds, unless their parents move. It could certainly be important for their children.
The bigger point is - currently we define what's normal mostly in terms of "what I can reasonably do / where I can get to when equipped with a car". That may well change. Either by choice (collective enlightened self-interest) or by fiat.
You'd take picnic chairs to a NT property? There's posh - do you own a Volvo?
(You've heard of picnic blankets?)
Too frugal for the National Trust cafe! They can be ... ambitiously priced.
We should improve society somewhat.
Cyclists - let's have a cycle track
drivers- my entire world will cease to exist
No, it's the site for delusional cycling extremists who cycle for hours to get to a NT property... whilst the rest of the family travel there by car (guilty!).
They don't get it! They think the environmental impact is about how much turf they pave over - nothing to do with how many vehicle miles they generate.
I suspect they do get it, but they also realise that visitor numbers would be decimated if they significantly reduced parking.
But just by sinking in a few Sheffield stand you can park ten or more bicycles in the space that one car takes up.
Three or four reduced spaces out of a thousand, just beyond the less than able spaces, see how it does. If it proves popular then a few more car spaces might be sacrificed to a few drivest spots.
Again, transport heads for Lyme Park are tantalisingly close, at less than 2 miles. I get that it's a 200 ft height difference from train Disley station to the house. I get that all the houses in their care are hungry.
The NT's website is decidedly unhelpful: how to get here - the cycling tab just has a link to Sustrans, which is a cop-out. There is a free minibus from near the main entrance operating most of the year (under arrival by bus). Looks great for walking and and upgrade for cycling would surely not be that difficult.
At one NT place local to, me an exhibition on decades of capital punishment for homosexuality, starting with the entrance hall full of nooses - unexpected, challenging and informative. It's great that the NT place so much emphasis on disability access and that they feature a diverse range of people visiting in their brochures.
But all those people need access to a car to join in in all but a few cases.
Stourhead
l've seen this expand the parking offer as Lyme are doing: it creeps from grassed "overflow" areas, and then it's "we're only upgrading existing areas we can't use year round".
In this case, it's miles from anywhere, apart from the A303. On the plus side the catering and toilets are outwith the admission booth, so it's popular with cyclists as a rest stop.
Catering
while I'm on it, this often seems like a missed opportunity as too many places are stuck, catering-wise, in a model of the Bad Old Days when sites opened three afternoons a week from April to September - you studied the annual handbook intently to work out the puzzle.
Too small, and frustratingly, too slow.
Please, please, please all caterers - don't mix the food queue with the complicated coffee queue. Barista Coffee is lucrative, but you'll lose food sales if you don't have the capacity and skill to produce it quickly - it is quite labour intensive. I get that you are weather bound, staffing isn't easy, so gear the offer accordingly with more self-service, don't try to hold on to some genteel model of old. Most places I visit I am staggered by how disorganised and unproductive the arrangements are at busy times. it spoils the experience.
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