Say it with cake! Peak District National Park Authority celebrates historic anniversary

A celebration event at the Peak District National Park Authority’s Bakewell base remembered the people who have shaped the development of national parks – while recognising the next generation who will lead them into the future.

Phil Mulligan, chief executive of the Peak District National Park Authority, said: “It has taken campaigners and legislators to get to where we are now and, as we look to the future, we have created our training academy to bring through the next generation of custodians. These are the people who are going to look after these landscapes for years to come.”

Baker Deborah Cox created a special cake for the event, which she called Taste of the British Hedgerow.

Made from hazelnut sponge layers, with caramelised apple buttercream and blackberry compote, it featured fondant icing pictures representing each of the UK’s 15 national parks.

Deborah said: “The Peak District is incredibly important to my family. We’ve spent so much time walking here and my husband and I regularly ride our tandem in the national park.

“We now have family in Sheffield and we live in Manchester, so the Peak District is now very much our shared place.”

The Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 – hailed at the time as a ‘people’s charter’ - created the framework for national parks and addressed issues including public rights of way and access to open land.

Following the Act, the Peak District was the first national park to be designated, in April 1951.

The creation of national parks were part of the reconstruction of the UK under Clement Atlee’s Labour government following World War II.

The historic legislation – which had all-party support – was introduced by the Minister of Town and Country Planning, Lewis Silkin, who described it as “the most exciting Act of the post-war Parliament.”

He had earlier introduced it as a Bill, telling Parliament: “Now at last we shall be able to see that the Lakes, the moors and dales of the Peak and the tors of the west country belong to the people as a right and not as a concession. This is not just a Bill. It is a people’s charter – a people’s charter for the open air, for the hikers and the ramblers, for everyone who lives to get out into the open air and enjoy the countryside.”

The Act received royal assent on 16th December 1949.