Plans for new kayaking hub revealed

A derelict garden centre popular with urban explorers could become home to a canal-side watersports business.

The former Cromford Garden Centre shut in 2006, but plans submitted to Derbyshire Dales District Council show intentions to demolish what is left of the site on the A6 - and build a new headquarters, community hub and activity base for children to try kayaking, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LRDS).

Applicant Peak UK Kayaking Ltd says the building would be two storeys and have solar panels on its roof, with most of the site’s trees to be retained.

Director Peter Astles told the BBC: "We've hired heritage architects to keep the building respectful of the World Heritage Site."

Taking about the plans, Mr Astles added: "It's going to be very screened. The aim is you don't really notice the building from any direction.

"The idea is we build a very sustainable building.

"Ideally, we want to be carbon neutral, if not create more power than we need.

"We'd become custodians of a derelict site that currently is vandalised - there are beer bottles everywhere, I've seen syringes there, it's a real mess."

Peak UK Kayaking Ltd manufactures clothing and other material for watersports including canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding, detailing that it has supplied World and Olympic champions since 1990.

Mr Astles said: “For several years the company’s charity ‘British Canoeing Club, Paddle Peak’ has been introducing local children regardless of background to blue spaces and each August Bank Holiday since 2018, more than 1,000 local children have been taken kayaking on the Cromford Canal as part of the Cromford Mills Adventure Weekend."

He said the charity's aim is to provide local children a "relationship with the canal along with a permanent space to return and learn kayaking properly".

Currently, Paddle Peak does not have a base near the canal and runs its activities from Cromford Wharf.

“The proposal is designed to provide both a headquarters for PEAK UK and a base for Paddle Peak on one unified site, allowing them to run more efficiently and effectively together," Mr Astles added.

The company says it has 12 employees working full time, and claims this would increase.

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