Environmental concerns over Elvaston Castle revamp plans

The county council said its plans would make Elvaston Castle a sustainable visitor attraction

Plans to spend millions regenerating a 321-acre castle estate with historic Grade II listed gardens have been called "unwanted and unnecessary".

Derbyshire County Council said it was planning to "reverse decades of underinvestment" at Elvaston Castle.

It wants to create a tea room, ice cream and coffee kiosks, and shops and exhibition spaces on the grounds.

Campaigners say the proposals will cause environmental damage to the country park.

The county council said its plans, which aim to create 176 new full-time jobs, for the site would make it a sustainable visitor attraction.

The plans include creating a one-mile (1.6km) access drive, from a roundabout on the B5010, leading to a new 500-space car park.

The council said this would help to divert footfall away from the historic trees in the gardens, which they say are suffering damage from being walked over on the route from the existing car park.

There are plans to create a tea room, ice cream and coffee kiosks, shops and exhibition spaces

However, campaigners from Elvaston Castle Action Group and Friends of Elvaston Castle told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the proposals would cause a loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat.

Some have said the council should consider rewilding Elvaston Castle parkland instead, in a similar way to approved plans for the UK's largest rewilding project in Derby.

Speaking on behalf of the Elvaston Castle Action Group, a member said: "The roundabout junction will involve the felling of veteran oak trees and complete destruction of the habitat and biodiversity they support and the proposed car park will lie adjacent to a local nature reserve with attenuated drainage and runoff into the watercourses."

Campaigners say the new car park and access route will cause environmental damage

A spokesperson for the Friends of Elvaston Castle added: "In the eyes of thousands of people, these proposals are unwanted and unnecessary."

A planning application for the £35m first phase of the regeneration project will be submitted soon, with a consultation, by the council and the Elvaston Castle and Gardens Trust (ECGT), a registered charity that will take on the running of the site.