Derbyshire Council leader says he still backs £1 charge for Peak District visitors despite criticism
It comes after Alan Graves' suggestion was criticised by the High Peak MP and East Midlands Mayor
Last updated 23rd Apr 2026
Derbyshire County Council’s Leader has hit back saying the Peak District National Park needs to be properly funded after he was criticised by The East Midlands Mayor and High Peak’s MP for previously suggesting a £1 entry charge for visitors coming into the national park.
Labour Mayor Claire Ward, of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, and Labour High Peak MP Jon Pearce criticised Derbyshire County Council Leader Alan Graves for an old statement he made suggesting a small charge for people entering the Peak District as the treasured national park looks at how it might increase funding.
The issue resurfaced around the Peak District National Park’s 75th anniversary celebrations marking its designation as a national park on April 17, 1951, and after Peak District National Park Authority Chief Executive Phil Mulligan said raising taxes to help fund national parks is an obvious and very fair solution to ease its financial challenges.
Reform UK County Council Leader Cllr Graves said: “The Peak Park authority is the first national park of our country and the first national park in the world and it needs looking after and it’s a beloved place that we need to look after.
“At the moment, they have been given their grant funding as a cash freeze. What that means in effect is that they have had a cut because there is inflation and there is all the extra things that the current Government has done in adding costs for employees and it’s causing them problems.
“Now, when we have Mayor Claire and Jonathan Pearce and members of the Conservative Party saying I want to create an ULEZ type system – that came from a discussion – a discussion that said do you think it would be acceptable to have a visitor charge of say £1 after this was raised by the Chief Executive of the national Peak Park authority.
“I said, ‘well, I’m sure people would pay a pound’, and then the conversation went to how would you collect that £1? And I said, ‘well, I don’t really know there is all sorts of schemes out there including cameras’.
“However, what we really need is the Peak Park being funded properly so that they don’t have to go through these sort of problems.”
Cllr Graves suggested as long ago as May, 2025, the idea of visitors to the Peak District National Park being charged up to £1 even though he conceded it would be difficult to implement and that any such plans could not afford to frighten anyone off.
But as the issue of raising money for the county’s Peak District National Park recently resurfaced around its 75th anniversary on April 17, Mayor Claire Ward dismissed Cllr Graves’s old suggestion, insisting ‘I won’t let that happen’, and High Peak Labour MP Jon Pearce also argued the Reform UK leader’s suggestion is ‘not on the side of working people’.
Ms Ward posted on Facebook on April 17: “Alan Graves, Reform UK leader of Derbyshire County Council, wants to spend public money installing cameras to bring in a congestion charge.
“Whether it’s a visit to the Peak District for the day or popping to the shops or work, Reform want you to pay to drive. I won’t let that happen.”
High Peak MP Jon Pearce also accused Cllr Graves of having proposed a plan to introduce a charge for vehicles entering the Peak District using camera technology similar to ULEZ zones.
Mr Pearce said: “By contrast, Labour are investing in sustainable transport to give people a genuine alternative to their car.
“Our £6 million ‘mini-Switzerland’ project will deliver buses and trains working together on simple, reliable, clockwork timetables, with better connections, less waiting and joined-up tickets.
“That is the best way to tackle congestion and make visiting our amazing National Park sustainable – not taxing them for the pleasure. Once again, it is clear that Reform are not on the side of working people.”
But Cllr Graves pointed out that Derbyshire County Council cannot raise money directly for the Peak District National Park and it has been reported that the Peak Park Chief Executive has been making the case that the authority cannot continue with a frozen grant which Cllr Graves says, in real terms, is a cut once inflation and other rising costs imposed by Government are taken into account.
Cllr Graves also highlighted that a report also explains that core funding has fallen by six per cent.
Following criticism of Cllr Graves’s statement from May, 2025, concerning possible visitor charges, he explained that he had been asked whether he would support a visitor charge for the Peak Park and his view was that visitors would likely be willing to pay £1 if it went directly to the Peak Park authority.
Cllr Graves added: “The same question has arisen again, and my position remains the same. My only concern would be how such a charge could practically be collected, although there may now be technological solutions that could help facilitate this.”
He argued that the conversation appears to have been diverted from the real issue which he says is how the Government ensures the Peak Park receives adequate funding.
Cllr Graves added: “It seems increasingly difficult to discuss serious matters – in this case the future of the world’s first National Park – without political point-scoring taking over. I believe this issue deserves a proper and serious debate.
“The reality is that this Labour government is underfunding the Peak Park. That is an argument I could have focused on entirely. Instead, I was asked to discuss possible solutions.
“If national Government and the East Midlands Mayor are unwilling to close the funding gap, then it is entirely reasonable to consider other options for protecting this national treasure.
“Jon Pearce, as one of their MPs, could raise the matter directly with Government, and Claire Ward has access to new regional funding that could help. If those options are not forthcoming, then we must work together to find ways to support the Park. My preferred position remains simple – fund the Park properly.”
The Peak District was given a multi-year settlement this year, which was welcomed by leaders, but it followed cuts to the number of staff rangers.
National Parks England says national parks have lost about 40per cent of their budget in real terms since 2010 and a report by the four national parks in the country marking the 75th anniversary of their designation is expected to call for firmer and more sustainable funding.
Peak District Chief Executive Mr Mulligan has said working to ease pressures like overcrowding, dangerous parking and wildfires against declining funding has been challenging alongside expectations to deliver more public services.
Ms Ward who does not support the suggestion of a vehicle charge has said it would only raise a couple of million pounds a year, according to her office’s estimates.
Instead, she is backing Labour Government aims to introduce the levy on overnight trips – dubbed as a ‘tourism tax’ – to help create an income for regional mayors to boost growth, including the Labour-led East Midlands Combined County Authority which oversees Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
But Derbyshire County Council did actually vote by a majority in February in favour of calling on the Mayor to scrap Government proposals for a ‘tourism tax’ on overnight visitors to the county and its Peak District as part of national budget plans.
Derbyshire County Council’s Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Alex Dale, won the backing of the controlling Reform UK county council at a meeting at County Hall, in Matlock, on February 11, in his call for the local authority to lobby the East Midlands Mayor to scrap the plans after outlining how he feels it could damage tourism in Derbyshire and the Peak District.
Reform UK Leader, Cllr Alan Graves, said at the time: “We as Reform councillors have raised concerns about proposals to impose a tourism tax on the Peak District creating an unfair burden on businesses and families struggling with the cost of living.”
He added it risks discouraging visitors while doing little to address infrastructure challenges and he added that feedback has shown a ‘tourism tax’ will be another cost that people cannot afford, hitting those on the lowest incomes.
Cllr Graves added that asking people to pay more with a ‘tourism tax’ to visit will add to their tax burden and not protect the Peak District at a time when more should be done to support tourism and jobs by not pricing people out, or reducing numbers and harming the local economy.
Mr Mulligan said the Peak District National Park intends to keep going from strength to strength for the next 75 years as he pointed out that it is not just a great place to visit but it is also critical for national infrastructure, for national security and national health and wellbeing.
The Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has stated that it is providing an uplift of £23m to support the work of national parks, in addition to up to £400m a year which its says it is investing in restoring nature across the country.