Planning permission submitted for £200 million new Chesterfield resort development

The development is designed to create a green travel hub for carless access to and across the Peak District National Park, along with a 165-room resort hotel, a variety of food and drink outlets as well as shops where people can try and buy a range of equipment to use for outdoor pursuits and adventure sports.

Outline planning permission for the resort had already been granted on the Unstone site, which was formerly a golf course and, before that, an opencast mining site. But now a revised planning application for Phase 1 of the development has been submitted to Chesterfield Borough Council planners.

The development is led by Milligan, a specialist destination and mixed-use real estate developer, who are working closely with Chesterfield Borough Council, The University of Derby and the Peak District National Park Authority. Their aim is to create a world-class tourist destination which visitors can use as their base camp for exploring the Peak District and other local attractions.

In a statement released with news of the planning application being submitted, developers added: “The Gateway is intended to play an important role in cementing Chesterfield as a destination town and as part of the Peak District experience providing visitors to the region and the local community with low impact ways to explore the National Park thanks to a zero-carbon travel hub. Like a ski resort, PEAK Resort will be built around a carless mobility service, not in this case to mountains and skiing, but into the Peaks for biking and hiking, for nature, heritage, sport and culture.”

The development footprint for Phase One of PEAK Resort is just 10% of the 300-acre rsite. The rest of the estate continues to facilitate ongoing work and experimentation to improve biodiversity net gain and research into suitable building materials for the future development which can be gathered and replenished. It is also currently home to Forest Schools, helping bring children from urban environments into the great outdoors in safe, educational settings.

Details of the planning application and the opportunity to submit questions and comments are provided via the online portal at www.peakliaison.co.uk