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RIP Curbar and Baslow. (Read 11198 times)

Fiend

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RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 09:52:45 am
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/crag_access/newish_parking_regulations_curbarbaslow_edge-732950

I'd love the know the council's answer to the direct question: "Where do you expect the 60+ cars usually parked there to go??".

Great timing just before the busiest Easter weekend in history too.

spidermonkey09

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#1 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:12:17 am
Saw that. Profoundly dumb. There is only one possible outcome here surely; people will just ignore it.

Its a real shame as it only really needed double yellows on the bend. The long straight down to Gardoms could easily accommodate parked cars.

steveri

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#2 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:32:59 am
Bah, it's very possible to park sensibly on that road outside the (small) car park and official bays. Too many people didn't I suppose.

Stu Littlefair

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#3 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:38:39 am
Whilst I agree the extent of the double yellows are ridiculous, it’s way past time that there were some parking restrictions in place here, especially at the top of the hill.

Cars parked on the verge made it a de facto single lane road with heavy traffic and because of the hill you couldn’t see if traffic is coming from the other direction.

There were far too many snarl ups here last year that took ~30 minutes to negotiate.

Fiend

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#4 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:41:33 am
Widen the verges, make it 2 full lanes plus 1 parking lane, and make the whole lot pay parking - at a reasonable fee - £3 daily £2 for 4 hours, accept cards at the machine.

Stabbsy

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#5 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:43:11 am
Possibly a bit heavy handed - sledgehammer to crack a nut maybe, but something needed to be done. I already avoid that road at weekends because it had become such a mess and that was pre-Covid - I've been caught up for 30 mins more than once. Basically, a minority of people park like fucking idiots and this is the unsurprising end result. Agreed, the straight road down to Gardoms could take some cars, but would need passing places and ones that can deal with farm traffic passing through because allowing this to be parked up effectively turns it into a single track road.

With the caveat that I've not seen how much double yellow there is yet (there was none midweek last week), you can park at the opposite end for Baslow and can use the laybys down the hill for Curbar. Yes, it's a slightly longer walk, but we're talking 5 or 10 minutes extra - not exactly the death knell for Peak District climbing.

spidermonkey09

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#6 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:50:00 am
Do we all think the 60+ cars that parked there are just going to have to go elsewhere then, given that the car park is about 1/4 of the required size most weekends?

I don't deny some restrictions were needed but this is excessive.

teestub

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#7 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:54:45 am
Do we all think the 60+ cars that parked there are just going to have to go elsewhere then, given that the car park is about 1/4 of the required size most weekends?


It does seem excessive but I guess now for climbers it’s no different than any other crag: if the parking is full you go elsewhere. I would assume that a lot of the visitors will just take the chance of a ticket, what is it for parking in double yellow, £40?

cheque

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#8 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:55:22 am
Could someone change this threads OTT title please?

Plattsy

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#9 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:56:18 am
Maybe the decision makers have assessed the area more thoroughly than occasional visitors.

spidermonkey09

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#10 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 11:14:09 am

It does seem excessive but I guess now for climbers it’s no different than any other crag: if the parking is full you go elsewhere. I would assume that a lot of the visitors will just take the chance of a ticket, what is it for parking in double yellow, £40?

Yeah, I don't think its actually climbers that will get affected here for the reasons you say, they'll go elsewhere (watch for loads of cars parked at Gardoms as a result!) I think this will largely affect walkers, who are easily the biggest user group of the Peak. I more object to the rubbish implementation and lack of proposing new solutions than any impact on the ground. 

al

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#11 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 12:09:25 pm
isn't this preventing the very thing the peak park wants to encourage ie; easier access for all, less elitism, re-landscaped trails (especially at curbar & baslow), more coffee & cake (especially at curbar & baslow)? was on the road last night and the yellow lines (including large snots of surplus paint dumped on the verge) are a far more permanent, socially and enviromentally offensive eyesore than the cars ever were

remus

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#12 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 12:21:21 pm
Maybe the decision makers have assessed the area more thoroughly than occasional visitors.

From an outside perspective it's a hard decision to understand. Popular area already struggling for parking, solution...greatly reduce the amount of parking, including getting rid of sensible parking spots that don't disrupt the flow of traffic.

Bradders

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#13 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 12:32:42 pm
If I were the National Trust, the obvious solution would be to expand the actual car park. Something the size of Brimham, which I reckon is comparable in terms of visitor numbers, would surely be possible by using the adjacent fields. And at £100 a day or whatever they're charging at Brimham these days they'd make a fortune.

Would certainly solve the issue of roadside parking on a relatively small country lane, which again you never see at Brimham even with the crowds of McDonalds munching masses.

Duma

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#14 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 01:22:11 pm
...the yellow lines (including large snots of surplus paint dumped on the verge) are a far more permanent, socially and enviromentally offensive eyesore than the cars ever were

what a crock of shit

SA Chris

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#15 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 01:35:31 pm
If I were the National Trust, the obvious solution would be to expand the actual car park. Something the size of Brimham, which I reckon is comparable in terms of visitor numbers, would surely be possible by using the adjacent fields. And at £100 a day or whatever they're charging at Brimham these days they'd make a fortune.

Would certainly solve the issue of roadside parking on a relatively small country lane, which again you never see at Brimham even with the crowds of McDonalds munching masses.

After last visit to Brimham after not being for 10 years I was disappointed that a) the old "climbers car park" was no more b) how much they charged and c) even on a weekday it was completely rammed (it was school hols though).

I know it's off the grid for most of you, but there is now an order in place to close the Spittal road completely (best access to Dubh Loch, Lochnagar and a lot of the SE Cairngorms) as soon as the car park is full, due to people parking and camping everywhere last summer.

nai

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#16 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 02:44:23 pm
It was a total mess and something had to be done. The severity of the restrictions has been brought by utter fuckwittery of visitors.

It was only a matter of time before emergency services were needed and couldn't get near.

Feel most sorry for the owner of the coffee van.

Burbage will be next.

Johnny Brown

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#17 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 03:51:45 pm
Do we all think the 60+ cars that parked there are just going to have to go elsewhere then, given that the car park is about 1/4 of the required size most weekends?


It does seem excessive but I guess now for climbers it’s no different than any other crag: if the parking is full you go elsewhere. I would assume that a lot of the visitors will just take the chance of a ticket, what is it for parking in double yellow, £40?

Unfortunately on the Eastern of edges it is often the case now that the parking capacity of the entire area is exceeded. So no, there isn't an option to go elsewhere, the options are park badly or go home.

The peak BMC team has been trying to encourage the various parties involved to get together and take a holistic approach to the problem, but some of the parties like DCC and the Peak Park are seemingly incapable and prefer the myopic wack-a-mole approach.

Bonjoy

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#18 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 05:52:44 pm
This is pretty moronic and deserves pushback. The parking situation is a symptom of there not being enough parking spaces to accommodate the number of visitors. If the Park/Council is intent on putting a defacto arbitrary cap on visitor numbers it needs to own up to this and explain exactly how this fits in with the actual core purpose of a national park. As JB say, the Eastern edges are all full at the weekend. There is no quiet option to move on to. This very much sends the message that visitors are not welcome and should fuck off back to their natural urban habitats. By all means stop roadside parking, AFTER you've provided an approved alternative, not before.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2021, 06:04:57 pm by Bonjoy »

mrjonathanr

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#19 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 07:13:40 pm
It was only a matter of time before emergency services were needed and couldn't get near.


This is the case with the Roaches. Parking on the verges narrows large sections of road to the extent that a fire engine wouldn’t pass. In that respect, no argument. Except there’s already quite a lot of parking here, unlike Curbar Gap.

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#20 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 08:50:31 pm
Maybe only a semi relevant point but this is one of the issues with increasing participation. When the BMC adopted a policy of getting more people into climbing/hillwalking I can remember lots of talk about polish, work gear placements, queueing for routes etc, but I don't think we talked much about the difficulty of getting parked!

teestub

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#21 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 08:59:08 pm

Unfortunately on the Eastern of edges it is often the case now that the parking capacity of the entire area is exceeded. So no, there isn't an option to go elsewhere, the options are park badly or go home.


Fair play didn’t realise it was that bad now, I guess I’ve barely climbed in the peak for a few years.

Agree that some alternative like bigger car parks or good park and ride schemes should be put in place if you’re going to limit roadside parking. I guess there’s similar problems in the Lakes these days. I think we are lucky that the Dales NP is so big and there’s a lot of options with a few well catered for honeypots and a lot of off the radar bits.

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#22 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 09:13:16 pm
Maybe only a semi relevant point but this is one of the issues with increasing participation. When the BMC adopted a policy of getting more people into climbing/hillwalking I can remember lots of talk about polish, work gear placements, queueing for routes etc, but I don't think we talked much about the difficulty of getting parked!

Fuck "growing the sport" and increasing participation.

teestub

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#23 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:13:50 pm
Maybe only a semi relevant point but this is one of the issues with increasing participation. When the BMC adopted a policy of getting more people into climbing/hillwalking I can remember lots of talk about polish, work gear placements, queueing for routes etc, but I don't think we talked much about the difficulty of getting parked!

But Offwidth promised us that all the new climbers would flock to the esoteric choss and clean it all up for us!

T_B

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#24 Re: RIP Curbar and Baslow.
April 01, 2021, 10:35:12 pm
Some climbers either don’t get out much (fair enough, Lockdown and all that), or, I dunno, something. The problems with parking in the Peak District NP have not been created by climbers, there are just loads more users, which is great to see. Some of them need educating. And wot Jonboy said, the only solution to the parking are more, big car parks a la Longshaw.

E.g. I noticed the people parking on the bend near the Tor the other day were walkers. Or cars parked all the way up the hill underneath Bamford on Tuesday evening - something I’ve only seen relatively recently. Not climbers.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2021, 10:43:45 pm by T_B »

 

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