Revised Phase 1 planning applications have now been submitted to Chesterfield Borough Council for the Gateway which has been consented on 300 acres of land regenerated from opencast mining located on the eastern boundary of the Peak District National Park, near Chesterfield.
The Gateway is intended to play an important role in cementing Chesterfield as a destination town and as part of the Peak District experience providing visitors to the region and the local community with low impact ways to explore the National Park thanks to a zero-carbon travel hub. Like a ski resort, PEAK Resort will be built around a carless mobility service, not in this case to mountains and skiing, but into the Peaks for biking and hiking, for nature, heritage, sport and culture. The commercial village will comprise of experiential retail, locally sourced dining and unique spaces for events, artisan craft and learning experiences. Phase 1 of the development will create around 1,000 jobs across these sectors with a commitment to education and green skills delivered via an onsite skills academy.
The planning consents for PEAK Gateway Resort were implemented and safeguarded in 2016. The founders of Birchall Properties, the landowner, have already invested over 35 years in nature recovery, passive rewilding and preparation for the development on the 300-acre Birchall Estate which had been the subject of extensive open-cast activities.
The development footprint for Phase One of PEAK Resort is just 10% of the 300-acre reclaimed estate. The rest of the estate continues to facilitate ongoing work and experimentation to improve biodiversity net gain and research into suitable building materials for the future development which can be gathered and replenished. It is also currently home to Forest Schools, helping bring children from urban environments into the great outdoors in safe, educational settings.
Stanton Williams were recently appointed to design the Gateway at PEAK and in recent months key, strategic agreements have been entered into, which will be announced soon. These include:
- Heads of terms with national retail brands to become anchor tenants for the commercial village element of the Gateway.
- An agreement with a hotel operator to bring a flagship concept to Gateway and operate the 165-room hotel.
- Heads of terms with vehicle and transport partners to operate the zero-carbon travel hub.
- Agreements with regional education providers to develop education and learning opportunities at the Gateway.
- Heads of terms with a leading UK Waste Management partner to deliver waste management solutions and enable an innovative circular economy with a focus on waste reduction and recycling.
The Gateway is due to open in Winter 2026. A period of public consultation will begin once the planning application goes live. Local stakeholders and residents have already been invited to the Birchall Estate to review plans for the Gateway and discuss them with the development team.
FAQs, details of the planning application and the opportunity to submit questions and comments are provided via the online portal at www.peakliaison.co.uk
