Why don’t we just say stuff it and start riding wherever we want in the Peak(s).
Quite a lot of us do without without making a big song and dance about it. DCC doesn’t care, they only have jurisdiction over Rushup Edge because technically that track is a road – it has a TRO on it so isn’t open to motorised traffic anyway, but that doesn’t seem to matter.
The Peak District National Park guys were pretty hacked off with the initial DCC ‘work’ on Rushup and are likely still unhappy. My impression is that mostly they’re not overly bothered about mtbs, but riding on the Kinder plateau does annoy them because it’s a friable, vulnerable surface, though of course there’s a whole other discussion to be had about erosion caused by walkers compared to mountain bikes.
I guess what I’m saying is that although in your head riding on footpaths may have some sort of protest element, from the DCC and the PDNP point of view, any linkage is likely to seem tenuous. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ride on footpaths, but I’m questioning whether it’s likely to be an effective protest strategy. Organisations don’t always react like people.
Edit: what I’m saying is that supporting groups like Peak District MTB is probably the most effective means of communicating with the PDNPA and the likes of DCC, but if an organisation is determined not to take notice, then just riding footpaths isn’t likely to change anything. All imho, YMMV etc obviously,