The second consultation on the Rushup Edge work ends on November 28 and we need as many people to feed back to them as we can possibly get – riders, walkers, horse-riders, everyone.

It was really something of an achievement to get Derbyshire County Council to run a second consultation on the work on Rushup Edge – (technically Chapel-en-le-Frith-Byway-Open-to-All-Traffic-144).

Does it mean this campaign – a campaign which started over two years ago – has been a success? Well no. The campaign will only be a success when DCC listens to the overwhelming opposition to their intended work and works with interested groups to finish the job to everyone’s satisfaction. It doesn’t look like they’re intending on doing this anytime soon.

The revised consultation gives a nod to the campaigners but has scant committed detail to what they’re are actually going to do where. (Compare it to their Hurstclough Lane consultation to see the difference).

We have to be realistic. Are they going to remove the mess of a base layer they’ve put in already? No, probably not. The plans don’t really give any indication of what they are going to do.

They do give them a massive amount of flexibility to say they’ve consulted and received positive responses and then do what they want. For example, you could respond that because the Roych is a guide for the work you’re happy with the plans. The plans also show that crushed aggregate and huge drainage channels (to where?) could be used, so be careful how you reply.  The moral of the story: when you respond, be explicitly clear on what elements of the ‘plan’ you support and which you don’t.

If they are committed to consulting properly and more importantly – they act on the responses they receive (which they have failed to do thus far) then DCC has an opportunity to get a huge number of users on side. Who knows, they could then go on to consulting with this group effectively in future. In partnership. It’s happened elsewhere – and not a million miles away from Matlock. Or Sheffield.

I’ll respond directly after talking to other campaigning groups – but in the meantime please respond yourself. Only by having a huge amount of responses can we get the message across.