New car park back on after Peaky Blinders shoot

A stately home in Derbyshire could be set to expand its visitor car park after other improvements to the site were made possible by the filming of the upcoming Peaky Blinders film.

Plans to improve Calke Abbey's existing 218-space overflow car park and extend it by a further 271 spaces were submitted and scrapped last year.

However, the Ticknall site's car parking expansion is now back on the table, following extensive conservation efforts elsewhere on the historic estate, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The National Trust said the improvements were made possible by the filming of the Netflix film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, which features the stately home as a key location.

Scenes for the movie - which will be released in March - were shot in passageways and corridors, the kitchen, schoolroom, night nursery, and other rooms normally used as collection stores.

Filming also took place in the stable yards, at Middle Lodge on the wider estate.

The film is set in Birmingham in 1940 and sees the return of Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in a new chapter written by Steven Knight and directed by Tom Harper.

In response to a comment on social media on the issue of car parking, a National Trust spokesperson said: "Money raised through filming has already helped us carry out essential conservation work in the house and across the estate.

"We know that car parking is a significant issue and something that we're committed to resolving – but this is subject to a planning application which has recently been submitted."

The withdrawn application said despite improvements, the overflow car park was "unusable from November to March, with the plastic grid system now breaking up with potholes appearing in the gravel tracks from wear and tear".

It aimed to resurface over 218 of the overflow car parking spaces, with an additional area for an extra 271 spaces added, with gravel and grass used to mark out the roads and bays.

In a further statement, the National Trust said: "The main car park application was withdrawn to allow further assessment and to respond to feedback from the planning authority.

"A revised application has now been submitted and is with the local authority for validation before appearing on the planning portal.

"Any changes to parking at Calke must be carefully designed to respect the historic landscape and environmental significance of the estate."

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