ELVASTON CASTLE - FINAL CONSULTATION

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Derbyshire County Council has given Highgate Sanctuary a 150-year lease to turn Elvaston Castle into a luxury hotel and golf course. The lease states that Highgate Sanctuary would provide £2.75m match funding required for a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the restoration of the historic gardens. It also states that Highgate would relieve the council of the cost of repairing the house, estimated at about £4m. Gerald Tommy, the council's director of corporate resources, said the lease was the best way to safeguard the house for the future.

He added, "The council has made its position clear for a considerable amount of time that the way forward is not to keep the house in public hands. The key treasure is the gardens and they will remain open to the public. We are trying to relocate the riding school so it can remain open to the public." He said the developers would not have included a golf course in the proposals if there was not demand for one. All the plans are still subject to planning permission being granted. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jun/06)

The Friends of Elvaston would like to express deep disappointment at Derbyshire County Council's decision to grant a 150-year lease to the Highgate Sanctuary consortium for Elvaston Castle Country Park. We have campaigned ceaselessly for the estate to remain in public ownership, totally disagree with the way that DCC has handled the matter, and dispute the loss and restoration figures which it claims.

We firmly believe that many of the costs and problems cited have been miscalculated and exaggerated, or have been incurred needlessly, and that if the DCC cannot run the place at a profit it should engage with those who can, not merely dispose of the estate. What we would like the public to know is that the struggle for Elvaston is not over, merely that it now begins in earnest. Hotel and golf course plans cannot be progressed without planning permission.

Elvaston Castle Country Park is multi-layered as far as planning issues are concerned and there are many hurdles involved for those wishing to alter the present usage. Anyone can protest against planning applications, no matter where they live, if and when they are submitted to South Derbyshire District Council, the planning authority for Elvaston. Graham Mansey, Secretary of the Friends of Elvaston

Peter Coe has run the Elvaston Castle Equestrian Centre at Elvaston Castle for 24 years but may have to leave to make way for a golf course. Mr Coe uses stables and 55 acres of fields at the castle, offering riding lessons and livery facilities. He bought a 21 year lease for the land and stables in 1982 which had 19 years left on it, and since then has spent more than £125,000 on improvements.

When the lease ran out four years ago, Derbyshire County Council would not renew it because of the planned redevelopment of the site but told him he could continue his business. Mr Coe has now been told by Highgate managing director Tanya Spilsbury that all the land he currently uses is required for the golf course. He said, "I have written to Tanya Spilsbury and we have discussed it in a couple of telephone conversations and one meeting, but she has never put anything in writing and I don't know where I stand." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, May/06)

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, which carried out a study for the county council, said measures should be taken to protect areas used by eight species of bat, as well as lesser spotted woodpeckers, harvest mice and grass snakes. The wildlife sites selection panel, made up of representatives of the county council, the wildlife trust, English Nature and Derby Museum, has accepted the proposals. There is also a nature reserve at Elvaston, which the report says could be bigger. The county council said that the study was part of a programme of wildlife surveys and was not connected to its future plans for Elvaston.

Designation of wildlife sites does not place statutory requirements on landowners, but the report's author, Nick Law, wildlife sites officer for the trust, said the assessment should provide a "clearer understanding as to why Elvaston Castle and Country Park is important for wildlife." He said the report's findings would be considered if and when a planning application was submitted. Graham Mansey, secretary of the Friends of Elvaston, said, "Many of us feel that the estate is of major importance to the wildlife of the area and is an irreplaceable part of the ecosystem."

The harvest mouse is the smallest rodent in Britain and weighs less than a 2p coin. In Britain, they are most common in the south and south-east. A population of harvest mouse has been sustained at Elvaston for 20 years, with 2004 records relating to an area of rough grassland on the eastern edge of Oak Flats.

There are 17 species of bat in the UK, all of which are protected because numbers have decreased dramatically. Eight species are known to occur in Elvaston Castle and Country Park, seven of which are confirmed as roosting. Roosts are in St Bartholomew's Church. Woodland, the lake and semi-improved pasture provide habitats.

Grass snakes have become scarce in recent years and are protected. Although grass snakes produce a venomous secretion that is toxic to small animals, they are harmless to humans. Many observations have been made at Elvaston, although there are three specific records of sightings in 1972, 1982 and 2002.

The lesser-spotted woodpecker is the smallest and least common of the three woodpeckers resident in Britain. In the UK, it is mainly limited to the south, with the highest population in the south-east of England. Records suggest that a breeding population is likely to have been present at Elvaston for the last six years. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/06)