Northern city's deer dispersed in a local peak (8)
I believe the answer is:
aberdeen
'northern city's' is the definition.
(city in the north of Scotland)
'deer dispersed in a local peak' is the wordplay.
'dispersed' is an anagram indicator.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'local peak' becomes 'ben' (Scottish term for a mountain, eg Ben Nevis).
'deer' anagrammed gives 'rdee'.
'a'+'ben'='aben'
'rdee' put inside 'aben' is 'ABERDEEN'.
(Other definitions for aberdeen that I've seen before include "football club" , "Scottish East coast city" , "Scottish E. coast city" , "Grampian city and port" , "Balmoral's county" .)