75th Anniversary of Peak District - a celebratory tax?



2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Peak District. In his Guardian Country Diary from Burbage on 14 June 2025 Ed Douglas worries that access to the Peak District may not remain free in its 76th year and beyond. The BBC has reported that there are suggestions that a visitors tax should be paid by those who enjoy the Peak Park. The justification for this is that the costs of maintaining and running the oldest National Park in the UK are escalating because of funding cuts and increased incidents of dangerous parking and wild fires. 

Open Gates Outdoors, initial views on this are that of course access should be free to a national park. 

However could an argument be made for a progressive taxation on use of the Peak Park being used to raise funds from the largely wealthy demographic that use the Peak District and funds raised used to improve access to the Peak District by isolated and vulnerable groups? 

This would be very much in line with Objective 8 of the Peak District's Development Plan 2023-2028 ("To create opportunities for young people and those from under-served communities to connect with and enjoy the National Park") which is at the heart of the mission of Open Gates Outdoors. However it might be very difficult to administer. Even with the level of technology available today it is hard to see how visitors' means could be assessed. Would visitors who enter the Peak Park on foot or by bus or train be taxed the same as those entering by car and if so how? 

There is an established argument that the benefits of a welfare state should be universal, ie enjoyed by everyone regardless of income. The argument goes that this leads to the wealthy being more prepared to pay more tax as they enjoy the benefits and also results in less stigma of those using welfare and therefore less social division. Obviously the Peak District is not part of a welfare state but the same arguments could be applied and access to the Peak District should be free to all to avoid two tiers of user.

On balance Open Gates Outdoors therefore remains of the view that access to the Peak Park should remain free to all.

What do you think?

Open Gates Outdoors

June 2025


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