Inquiry visits outdoor facilities in Derby

18 March 2010

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Last week saw the Panel and Natural England's Duncan Mackay travel up to Derbyshire for a hectic and enlightening day touring a number of sites in the Peak District National Park and the excellent range of sporting facilities at Tupton Hall School. Joined by experts at each site, the day provided many fantastic opportunities for the Panel to see first-hand the situation with outdoor and dual-use school facilities and allowed for discussions around best practice to be placed in a tangible context.

The day began in the Peak District National Park at the Edale Moorlands Visitor Centre where a general discussion around the facilities on offer in the National Parks and their sustainability was held. The Panel then moved on to Upper Derwent Cycle Hire Centre and interesting points came up around visitor numbers from deprived areas and the range of disabled bikes on offer for hire. The morning ended with a discussion on land ownership, restrictions and access issues at Horseshoe Quarry. After a speedy lunch the Panel were given a tour of the extensive indoor and outdoor sporting facilities at Tupton Hall School, where discussions around best practice for PFI schools and the barriers to wider community use of school sporting facilities were amongst the topics discussed.

The day was very productive. The Panel now has high hopes for the tour of London facilities taking place on 23 March that has been kindly arranged by the Football Foundation to highlight the differences in the quality and range of facilities available. For more details on any of our visits, just get in touch.