Consultation on barbecue and campfire ban in Dales

A consultation has been launched over a proposed order that would ban barbecues and open fires from all land with public access in the Derbyshire Dales.

The proposal would extend an existing Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) from Derbyshire Dales District Council, which covers land it owns and manages.

Under the proposals, restricted byways, cycle tracks and footpaths would be added to the areas where barbecues and open fires are banned.

The consultation began on Monday and runs for six weeks, before it is debated by the council's Community and Environment Committee on 11 September.

The PSPO would allow the council to fine those who breaks the rules.

The consultation comes after barbecues and campfires were banned in part of the Peak District by High Peak Borough Council last month.

District councillor Peter O'Brien, ward member for Abney, Eyam, Grindleford, Hathersage and Stoney Middleton in the Peak District, has campaigned for portable barbecues and camp fires to be banned on vulnerable moorlands.

O'Brien said: "The long-term damage to the natural environment caused by wildfires cannot be underestimated, with barbecues often found to be the cause."

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