Looking After

How we work to look after the National Park, conservation, ranger services, biodiversity and policies.

The work of the Authority
How we make decisions, the role of Members and staff.
Current consultations
We want your opinions on these consultations
Ranger service
What our rangers and volunteers do around the National Park.
Plans & policies
Corporate plans and policies

Councillor Tony Favell

I am Chair of the Peak District National Park Authority and an elected High Peak Borough councillor.

Contact me

If you want to contact me about the work of the Peak District National Park Authority you can do so in the following ways:

Telephone: 01433 670281

Email: tony.favell@peakdistrict.gov.uk

Address: Skinners Hall, Edale, Hope Valley, S33 7ZE.

About Me

I was born within five miles of the National Park and have lived for 41 years in Edale.

I am retired but have formerly been a Senior Partner of a Peak District firm of Solicitors; the Member of Parliament for Stockport; Chairman of Tameside and Glossop Acute Services Hospital Trust and a part-time Tribunal Judge.

In my public service I am a High Peak Borough councillor and Peak District National Park Authority member. I have previously been an Edale parish councillor, President of Hope Show and President of the Longshaw Sheep Dog Trials Association.

I founded a solicitors’ practice and building society agency in the Peak District which saw me giving advice to communities, businesses, farmers and others. I particularly gained a wide experience acting as a solicitor on behalf of applicants and/or objectors involved in planning inquiries. These included some inquiries involving minerals development.

I also have experience of financial matters from working in the Treasury whilst serving as an MP, John Major’s Parliamentary Private Secretary for 4 years

I am Deputy Chairman of the High Peak and Hope Valley Rail Partnership and have personal experience of commuting and taking regular walks in the Park.

What the national park means to me

It is essential for us to recognise that the Peak District is unique and wonderful because of the way it has been looked after by generations of people living and working here, particularly its farmers. In order to continue to conserve the area and its wildlife, local people must be supported and their wishes respected.

Although I have lived and worked in the park for over 40 years I have never forgotten that the park and the National Park Authority would not have been created but for the efforts of its founding fathers, most of whom came from Sheffield and Manchester. But for them the national park would have been subject to invasive development.

We must continue to respect the wishes of those from surrounding areas to enjoy, in a responsible way, the wonders of the Peak District.

Again we have to be conscious that the National Park attracts tourism and investment not only to the National Park but also to the wider Peak District and the towns and cities bordering on it.

Having recently been designated a Destination of Distinction, the Peak District makes an important contribution to the drive to attract sustainable tourism to the United Kingdom.