ELVASTON - WHERE WILL THEY ALLOW YOU TO WALK?
By Excalibur

Below is a map produced by the Friends of Elvaston. It is adapted from a map originally supplied to them by Derbyshire County Council and shows Elvaston Castle Country Park. It shows the area that will be left for the public to walk around if the County Council and the developers manage to steal the park for their planned hotel and golf course complex. The County Council has fooled some members of the public into thinking that the deal that they have engineered with Highgate Sanctuary as their preferred bidder for the estate means that Elvaston Castle will be fully restored to it's former glory, and the public will have full and uninterrupted access to the Country Park.

This is a cynical trap for the unwary which has been conjured up by the masters of spin at Matlock who wish to steal the park from us all. Only then can they get on with the matter of making as much money as possible whilst tapping their little balls all over the park without having to worry about any of the peasants (us!) getting in the way. Study the map. The area which is hatched with white lines comprises the 185 acre Core Garden. At present, the public are used to walking unhindered anywhere they wish within this part of the park. The area around the Castle and gardens, the lake, up to the Golden Gates, everywhere within the curtilage of the Castle is Core Garden but the public at large mistakenly think of this as the Park. Under the terms of Heritage Lottery Funding, if the millions of pounds necessary to fully restore the garden are granted, it will have to be enclosed and an entry fee charged to the public to visit it. A fee of £10 per day has been suggested by one County Councillor for the car park and Castle visit.

Present Country Park (solid white area)

Now look again at the map. The white areas are the actual PARK! The showground, the picnic area and the South Drive are ALL that is actually classed as Elvaston Park. The rest is either Core Garden, or the farmland and nature reserve, mostly the 40 to 50% of the park that is not open to the public. Originally, 388 acres were bought using mainly government money but for some inexplicable reason known only to themselves the County Council sold around sixty acres to a local landowner who was himself, or had been, a councillor! Of the area that was left after over 15% had been quietly sold off, the public to whom the land supposedly belongs still only has access to 50 to 60% of it. If we allow the County Council and their developer friends to get away with this it will be a lot less even than that figure!

Of the land in white on the map, namely, Elvaston Park, the developers have announced that they want to take ten per cent of this as well as all the rest. The Castle, all the outbuildings, Home Farm, the Local Nature Reserve, and the farmland for a golf course. They are even believed to have shown an interest in the workmen's bothies around the Kitchen Garden. The "10%" (their figure) they want is the South Drive which leads to London Road. This they will want as either an access road or part of their golf course and floodlit driving range complex.

As has been previously stated, out of over 100 councillors at the City and County Councils, with the exception of Councillors Frank Leeming and Bill Camm, not one of them has stood up and done anything at all for Elvaston Castle Country Park. As for MPs, all that they have done is to send an odd slightly condemnatory email to the County Council. Nothing that will rock the boat you understand. Nothing that could possibly be construed as 'nasty.' With a general election looming on the horizon you might bear this fact in mind. Many of the people we are quite rightly criticising are willing to close their eyes and cover their ears whilst our birthright is given away to a fat-cat elite for a rich man's country club. That both Derby City and the world need Elvaston Castle to remain a country park is beyond question and we shouldn't be having to struggle and fight to keep it.