Backing Buxton.

Having been born and bred in Derbyshire, I know just how fortunate we are to live in one of the most scenic and beautiful parts of the country.

As we mark English Tourism Week, I’m immensely proud of the fact that High Peak attracts so many visitors each year.

Tourism is an important part of our local economy – bringing in some £500m annually – with spending by visitors helping to support jobs and ensure our towns and villages can thrive.

But it’s important that tourism is sustainable – that we can preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Peak District National Park which people rightly flock to visit and explore – and that local people truly benefit from it.

That’s why I’m backing Buxton’s bid to become the UK’s first ever Town of Culture. This new annual competition – which is open to small, medium and large towns – is part of the government’s plan to boost local economic growth and opportunity throughout the country and to showcase just how special and unique Britain’s towns are. Forgotten for too long by Whitehall and Westminster, this government is determined to put the towns many of us live in, and of which we are rightly proud, back on the map.

Buxton already has so much to offer: magnificent architecture, natural beauty, and spa heritage; our Opera House, Pavilion Gardens, and the Devonshire Dome. But this prize offers us the opportunity to become one of the key northern cultural hubs.

More visitors is great for our local economy but it must be sustainable. The Monsal Trail may only be 4.5 miles from Buxton, but it’s so difficult to access; without pavements, the narrow gorge is impossible to walk and riding isn’t much safer. I’m strongly supporting the proposal to allow an innovative very light railway (VLR) to be trialled between Buxton and Blackwell Mill. The battery electric-operated Revolution VLR prototype can transport up to 56 people, making it far easier for walkers and cyclists to get from Buxton to the foot of the Trail.

I’ve also been making the case to ministers for the proposed “Mini Switzerland” plan to fully integrate bus and train services across the Hope Valley. For too long Hope Valley has been plagued by illegal parking. Recently we’ve made good progress with tackling these problems, with better signage, road markings and improved pay-and-display giving us a much better chance at managing this issue ahead of the summer months.

I’ve long argued that we need better, more regular and reliable bus services running along the corridor linking Castleton, Hope and Bamford. The next step is to improve our public transport and have buses running to more frequent, easy-to-remember schedules. We also need them to be pulling up at stations just before trains arrive and tickets to run across the network.

Our tourist economy has so much potential but it has been overlooked for too long. I’m determined to change that. Playing to our strengths and delivering sustainable tourism will make us all better off.