Residents invited to join Peak Cluster awareness walk

Residents with concerns about the proposed Peak Cluster carbon capture pipeline are invited to take part in a community relay walk through the High Peak on Sunday 27th September.

Action Against Carbon Capture and Storage (AACCS) is organising The Great Pipeline Walk, or ‘Pipewalk’, along the proposed route from the High Peak to the Wirral. Participants can choose from a series of adjoining walks, with High Peak sections ranging from around three to six miles. 

The Peak Cluster Project is a proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cement and lime production. 

The proposals would capture CO₂ directly from four cement and lime plants and transport it through a new network of underground pipelines to geological storage sites beneath the Irish Sea. Around 200km (120 miles) of pipeline is proposed, with the route passing through parts of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and the Wirral. 

Once captured, the carbon dioxide would be transported through the pipeline before being injected deep underground into geological formations beneath the seabed, where it is intended to remain permanently. The project is being proposed as a way of reducing emissions from an industry which is considered difficult to decarbonise through other means. 

Supporters say the scheme could help reduce industrial carbon emissions and contribute to the UK’s climate targets, while supporting the future of the cement and lime industries and the thousands of jobs associated with them. 

However, the proposals have also attracted opposition. AACCS has raised concerns about the potential impact of pipeline construction on open countryside, farmland, wildlife and biodiversity. The campaign group and other critics have also questioned the safety of transporting carbon dioxide through pipelines, particularly where routes pass close to communities, as well as the long-term reliability of underground CO₂ storage. 

One of the Pipewalk organisers, Derbyshire County Councillor Ruth George, said: 

“The aim of the Pipewalk is to raise awareness of Peak Cluster’s proposals, the impact they will have on our environment, and the way in which the pipeline is routed directly above so many of our communities, posing a lethal risk in the event of a leak of carbon dioxide. Many people have concerns and we are aiming to bring communities together.” 

The High Peak sections of the walk will pass through Hope, Buxton, Dove Holes, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Whaley Bridge and Disley, with shorter options available for people who do not want to complete the longer sections. 

AACCS describes the event as a peaceful show of solidarity rather than a protest. The group says the event is intended to highlight the potential scale of land and environmental impacts associated with the proposals, as well as the concerns of farmers, landowners and residents affected by the plans. 

In a statement promoting the event, the group said: “On 27th September, communities across the route will be together. Not as separate towns, villages or counties, but as one community standing together to protect the places we call home.” 

The project has divided opinion among local politicians. 

Derbyshire County Council has agreed to oppose the current proposals, citing safety concerns for residents, farmers and landowners along the route. At the same time, the council has said it supports the county’s quarrying and cement industries and wants the Government to provide funding to reduce emissions at source. 

Labour High Peak MP Jon Pearce, meanwhile, has backed the Peak Cluster project. He argues that carbon capture and storage could provide a way of reducing emissions from cement production while protecting the future of an important local industry. 

Mr Pearce has said the project could help protect around 2,000 existing local jobs and create new employment, while also reducing the UK’s reliance on imported cement and protecting the domestic supply chain. 

He believes carbon capture and storage is the only viable way of tackling cement industry emissions at the scale required, and has rejected concerns about the long-term capacity for CO₂ storage. He has also stressed that CCS is not a new or experimental technology and said he would not support the project without the necessary scrutiny and approval from the relevant safety authorities. 

Full details of the High Peak stages of the Pipewalk are available at: https://highpeak.actionagainstccs.com/2026/08/14/pipewalk