Thornbridge Hall: Business as usual as Derbyshire tycoon Emma Harrison prepares for make-or-break planning inquiry

Emma Harrison and team are marketing Halloween activities, bonfire night and a three-day Christmas market at Grade II listed Thornbridge Hall near Bakewell.

The upbeat marketing messages come ahead of a hearing which could see her ordered to rip up a road, 100-space car park and Quackers cafe, all built without permission.

A five-day planning inquiry starts on October 11 at the headquarters of the Peak District National Park Authority in Bakewell.

If Ms Harrison loses, everything will have to be removed and the land restored to its former condition within six months.

But for now, it appears to be business as usual. The estate is advertising ‘spooktacular’ activities during October half-term while bonfire night on November 4 will be based around the unauthorised cafe.

An autumn photography competition in October offers, for the winner, cream tea for four in the cafe, with the result announced at the end of November.

Ms Harrison lives at the hall with husband Jim – boss of Thornbridge Brewery.

In Under The Edge parish magazine last year she wrote they spent their savings on a drive and cafe so the hall could remain open to the public.

They had presented the plan to the Peak Park in March 2020 just before the first lockdown.

She claims the offices were then ‘barricaded’ and no one answered the phones.

And after months of ‘silence’ they decided to go ahead with the works so Thornbridge could ‘survive’.

When the Peak Park issued an enforcement notice she urged people to support them due to the ‘immense benefit Thornbridge brings to the people, the area and the UK’.

Ms Harrison successfully appealed and a public inquiry will be held from October 11-14 and 18.

The Peak District National Park Authority says the estate has several listed buildings and a registered park and garden and is in a conservation area. As a result this is ‘considered to be a particularly sensitive location’.

The new works ‘cause significant harm to the heritage assets’ and ‘possible damage to trees, habitats and archaeology’.

And where a conflict exists between conservation and public enjoyment within a national park, ‘conservation interest must take priority’.

During the pandemic the offices were closed and pre-application advice was restricted to ‘priority’ applications such as major developments and listed building consents, which was ‘clearly stated’ on the authority’s website.​​​​​​​

In a statement, the Peak Park said: ‘As there was no opportunity to assess the impact on this sensitive site and location as a starting point prior to the works being undertaken, the authority has asked that all relevant aspects of the development are removed and the land restored in accordance with the enforcement notice’.

Ms Harrison quit as boss of A4e in 2012 just a day after she gave up her role as ‘back-to-work’ adviser to then prime minister David Cameron following a police investigation into the firm.

As part of its work, A4e, which employed 3,500, handled millions of pounds worth of government contracts for welfare-to-work schemes.