The BPD Concordat has been devised following an extensive consultation exercise with BPD members, which has identified the following 6 priorities:
PRIORITY 1: Support businesses in the Peak District to be innovative, inspiring, inclusive, accessible, sustainable and supportive of the communities and environment within which they operate.
PRIORITY 2: Lobby alongside other organisations to ensure that businesses in the Peak District are in a position to benefit from both transport and digital connectivity.
PRIORITY 3: Promote Peak District businesses and the part they play in creating the identity of the Peak District, whilst promoting the area as a place to establish and grow a business.
PRIORITY 4: Liaise with the public private and third sector to bring forward development sites for both new start and grow-on businesses.
PRIORITY 5: Support the roll-out of effective business support programmes that are needed to help businesses launch and grow within the Peak District.
PRIORITY 6: Support initiatives which encourage the Peak District’s business community to provide employment and career opportunities for the local population and especially young people, including via apprenticeships.
These sit at the heart of the BPD Concordat, which over recent months has been the subject of intense discussions with organisations that play a key role in supporting the economic development in the Peak District. The intention is for those organisations to come together to register their support for the six priorities, which will then form the centrepiece of BPD’s lobbying activities over the coming years.
We launched the Concordat at the BPD Annual Conference on October 15th. You can read more about the conference by clicking on this link.
You can read the signed BPD Concordat here.
Dr Peter Dewhurst , Chair, Business Peak District
February 2025