Surge in visitors has turned village into a ‘giant car park’
FED-UP residents living in a North Staffordshire beauty spot say an influx of tourists has turned the once peaceful village into a giant car park.
They say other issues to have arisen due to the surge in visitors to Wetton in the Manifold Valley, near Leek, include anti-social behaviour, drug use and litter.
But the biggest problem centres on cars blocking the already narrow roads after the Peak District became a tourism hotspot during the pandemic with an estimated 20 million people living within an hour’s journey of the national park.
One of the most popular attractions near Wetton is Thor’s Cave which has become a popular selfie photo stop for Instagram users and drone flyers.
A local farmer has had to open one of his fields for visitors to park in to cope with the rush as tourists regularly spill out from a tiny car park onto surrounding country lanes, above. These are used by locals to park outside their homes, and some have resorted to placing traffic cones and markers.
Disputes have also flared up due to cars blocking the passage of haulage and farming vehicles. This comes as the Peak District National Park Authority is expected to approve improvements to the walking route up to Thor’s Cave, which villagers fear will only make the problems worse.
Diane Hackett, aged 50, landlady at the Royal Oak Pub, relies on more customers for business. However, she also thinks they can cause issues for the village. She said: “Having people visit the area is a godsend for us. “More parking would help because the farmers can often not get through the roads. But improvements to the Thor’s Cave trail do need doing because it’s so muddy up there causing lots of accidents.”
Greg Lucas, aged 58, is from Brighton, but has a longstanding relationship with Wetton. He has been visiting his mother there for over 30 years. He said: “The demographic of people visiting has completely changed since the pandemic started. People now even come from Manchester and Liverpool.
“God only knows why they come to see a big cave. I think it’s the mystical quality of the place. It’s like something out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
“The cones stopping people parking look awful outside the houses. I think there’s a divide in the village which needs sorting by the park authority.
“If you look at walking trails in places like Germany, there is plenty of parking and lots of benches and bins.”
Steve Martin, aged 69, is a retired van driver who lives on the main road through the village. He said he has had confrontations with tourists obstructing roads.
“I said to this one guy you can’t park there because the milk truck needs the room to pass through. He was quite abusive. But at the end of the day you can’t stop people coming here.”
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “We are inundated with people parking on this road when it’s a nice day. The village has turned into a giant car park.”
A local living on the same road, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said she had formally objected to the National Park Authority’s plans for accessibility improvements.
She said that without the traffic cones outside her house there would be no room to turn her car around.
“I haven’t seen any anti-social behaviour myself but people have tried to park at the pub and then not visit it. That way it loses profits.”