5 days after the local council elections in May 22, a University of Derby application for change of use to our student halls, a large building close to the town centre and Fairfield Road, dropped into the planning department at HPBC.

Our immediate investigations led us to understand that this application was to be rubber-stamped by a single planning officer.

This and the massive changes that such a facility would bring to our rural market town, was to happen without any public consultation, and despite the location having been identified by local police as eminently unsuitable.

We created a local protest group called Buxton Says NO, supported by local planning experts and with legal assistance offered gratis by a top Manchester attorney.

Our efforts forced the HPBC to discuss the plans at a full council meeting, at which we mounted an impressive show of solidarity from within the town.

The plans were withdrawn by the UoD, but the threat still hangs over our community.