Harpur Hill quarry has become a total trash tip in the last couple of weeks.The litter is atrocious i was there on Wednesday and the place was full of groups of all ages ,ok enjoy the sunshine and no school but why can't these people pack out what they pack in?It will take a mammoth clean up operation before the place is remotely litter free.If the quarry owners saw the state of the place they would ban all access i'm quite sure.
It's really depressing by could also be a chance to make good from this. Liaise with the local community and the quarry owners to organise a clean up by climbers?
If you get it organised let me know and I will be there. The hoards seem to be everywhere dumping litter! It was never good but since covid the problem seems to have got worse around the entire Peak!
I'd definitely come along with a few bin bags if you want to organise something.
Also very happy to join a clean up effort if one is organised. If not, I shall take some bags if I visit at some point
A friend of mine was there last week and was dismayed at the amount of rubbish. However she was even more upset at the abundance of youths there shooting up, leaving needles and aimlessly chucking rocks off the top whsilt they were climbing...
Sadly (to one degree or another) most places seem to be like this at the moment
I’ve collected at least a bin bag’s worth of random sh*te from various different crags the last couple of weeks
Also more than happy to get involved if there’s an organised HH cleanup.
Jay
The feeling locally is leave it looking like like a sh*t hole as this will hopefully deter people from visiting. It's been a nightmare the last couple of weeks with lots of anti-social behaviour and litter all over the village. 2000 visitors on Bank Holiday Monday - many of the visitors are fine, if misguided, but there is a significant number of complete w*nkers. The weather has kept them away this week fortunately. The owner has been contacted and is not interested.
What's he not interested in?
What happens with the quarry. I think residents were hoping that the quarry could be made secure in some way, or the lagoon filled in - but the current owners have no money apparently.
Black Rocks is the same. There’s even more rubbish than last Sept when my club did a "deep clean" collecting 24 bin bags of rubbish.
I would also lend a hand cleaning up if this was thought the best course of action. Interesting to read that the locals think that it might be better to let the place rot to deter people. I can see their objective but I am not sure that would be enough of a deterrent to stop it happening.
Rubbish could be left by:
A/ people actively congregating and deliberately choosing to get together for beers and substances.
B/ Occasional trippers, if you pardon the expression, who are too lazy to take their stuff home. (Look at the stuff left on beaches during last weeks hot weather)
Is it something the BMC local group could get involved in or the access officer? It is really important that local residents are contacted and involved. I don't climb at Harpur Hill but would hate to see access denied if there is anything the climbing fraternity can do.
Unfortunately since Lockdown there are so many places just slipping into mires of litter, walking paths. quarries and cycle ways. We need to take all this to a higher level, there's only so much our black bag brigades can do, I just get disheartened.
Hi, just to back up EarlyBird's comment, there's been a lot of trouble over the past month following Instagram posts promoting the lime pit as the blue lagoon, which has led to thousands of visitors trashing the place, using residential roads as racetracks, causing gridlock etc.
The owner has refused to do anything (like putting up fencing), and the police are limited into what they can do. So the current short term plan is, in addition to dying the lagoon black, to leave as much rubbish as possible up there to make the place as unattractive as possible until a permanent solution can be found.
The residents are planning on a major clean-up operation at some point, and we would be very glad of any help that anyone wanted to give, but for the moment, they'd appreciate it if nobody organised any ad-hoc cleaning visits at all.
I'd also mention that at least three local dogs have died in the past month from eating substances left in the area (best guess is drugs), so if you are climbing there, please keep a very close eye on any dogs you take with you.
Thanks
> If you get it organised let me know and I will be there. The hoards seem to be everywhere dumping litter! It was never good but since covid the problem seems to have got worse around the entire Peak!
Slightly off topic, but the shit....and I mean shit, among other things....on the path near Wildcat the other day was unbelievable.
There needs to be a use found for all these redundant quarries. I have heard of plenty of plans over the years but nothing ever seems to come into fruition. As long as they all left as derelict land problems will continue.
John
It’s taken three readings to realise that you weren’t saying that young climbers were shooting up whilst on routes...
I just logged on to comment on the same and was wonderIng about organising a cleanup - We collected a sack of rubbish today and took that away and I have just ordered a load of rubble sacks but I have just read Andylid’s comment ... are there any local points of contact we have to discuss being part of a clean up? Not sure I can just leave it like that but obviously don’t want to cause any upset with locals and local politics...
Hi LP,
Many thanks for your understanding.
Easiest point of contact is the Facebook group for Harpur Hill Residents Association; this has been made a closed group as some of the 'visitors' were using it for gathering information, but you should still be able to contact the group moderators. If this doesn't work, let me know and I'll try to sort something out.
When the residents think it is time for a clean up could they please start a new thread on here with a suitable title. I am sure you will get a lot of volunteers from the climbing community to come along and help. (It would be good if it was after the pubs had opened so we could put some more money into the village economy!)
We need to cut the rubbish off at the source.
good point about the BMC making contact. I think it's worth the BMC making contact if only to assure the locals that the climbers aren't part of the problem and that we're happy to help with the clean up if need be.
Hopefully once everything re-opens all these ****heads will be back to their usual hang outs and leave the hills and crags alone.....
Thanks John, that’s good of you and UKC
Just as a heads up, there have been rumours ( from social media and overhearing some of the “visitors” ) that a rave is being planned at the lagoon this weekend. Current plan is to cover the area in agricultural slurry on Friday. I’ve no idea which parts will be covered, but might be an idea to climb somewhere else this weekend.
They can try but they are in for a shitty experience(excuse the pun). Over the last couple of days local farmers have been dumping tonnes of slurry around the lagoon.
Not sure how long the smell will linger..but I can't imagine many of the usual suspects dragging their BBQ's through pig shit just to have a BBQ by a pond that's now been died black by the Derbyshire police.
An excellent solution by the local residents who have thoroughly had enough. I applaud them and everyone else who has made this happen
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/daytrippers-hot-weather-bl...
Still going and braving the slurry for a grand day out.
Didn't expect anything different.
I climbed at Harpur Hill yesterday and it was fine. Only saw one other team there all day and could see a few people down by the lagoon but only about a dozen all day and they looked like they were behaving themselves. Didn’t know about the slurry and didn’t smell anything at all.
Parked up near the HSE site on the industrial estate without issue. To be honest all seemed quiet and normal. Horseshoe parking looked rammed when I went past.
Also bumped into Gary Gibson having a slow wander up there.
I'm reading reports of scummy behaviour all over the place. I guess the reason is that scummy people have been forced to stay at home rather than go to scummy Mediterranean beach resorts and when at home they can't go to pubs so they buy some sandwiches from a garage and then leave all the wrappers.