The proposed permanent or temporary Traveller site in New Road, Middleton-by-Wirksworth, next to the cemetery. Image from Google.
A Derbyshire council is pursuing two potential permanent Traveller sites while discussions over a third are being reignited in hopes to end 12 years of failed attempts.
Derbyshire Dales District Council remains in pursuit of its years-long struggle to find permanent Traveller sites for which it must provide, with further legal obligations for numerous years to accommodate two families registered as homeless.
It now details its pursuit of two potential permanent sites in the car park of Matlock Bath train station and on fields to the north-west of Middleton-by-Wirksworth cemetery off New Road.
However, it has formally parked pursuit of two temporary sites in the district, leaving the authority without any plots on which to redirect Traveller families to, despite legal obligations. This leaves those households having nowhere they can legally stay or be moved to.
Last week the council said a Traveller family had moved onto the Clifton Road car park in Ashbourne without permission and that it would be following legal procedures ahead of any court eviction hearing.
In addition, it has renewed discussions with Derbyshire County Council over a previously-approved site it owns in Watery Lane, Ashbourne, close to the town tip, sewage works, cemetery and allotments.
The Watery Lane site had once been hailed as the silver bullet to solve the hunt for a permanent site, but this has been parked for more than a decade due to the county council’s freeze on land sales in Ashbourne to pave the way for a potential bypass.
That £21 million bypass project was also formally parked by the then Conservative county administration due to funding issues before they lost control to Reform UK, who are now refocusing on other bypass options, including around Shirebrook.
Derbyshire Dales officers say in a report to be discussed this week that a further consultant-backed search for permanent sites has failed to identify any new plots.
This is due to issues identifying owners of potential plots – including around Sudbury – landowners not wanting to engage in the process and the cost of land which may be suitable – ranging between £960,000 and £1.5 million.
An approved private site known as the Woodyard on the A6 near Homesford has been disregarded due to costs, estimated to be £1.3 million, consultants detail.
Alongside this, councillors had backed the use of up to £200,000 to purchase a site or sites at auction, however this has yet not been utilised due to the lack of viable plots.
The council had agreed last December to adopt four temporary tolerated Traveller sites in the Matlock train station car park, Matlock Bath train station car park, the Old Station Close car park in Rowsley and a field close to Middleton-by-Wirksworth cemetery.
Councillors approved a two-year planning application for the Matlock train station car park site, with the site having been used on a “temporary” basis for numerous years.
This site has not yet been developed since its approval in May, six months ago, the council confirms.
However, its elected members rejected the authority’s Rowsley temporary site in June following scores of objections, discrimination claims and a legal threat.
Work had been under way to prepare planning applications for the Matlock Bath and Middleton-by-Wirksworth plots, but the council now details: Following consultation and engagement with the leadership of the Progressive Alliance (Lib Dems, Greens, Labour and non-alligned), it was considered that this work should be paused, and that no further work be undertaken progressing these sites at the present time.
“This is to focus attention on progressing the identification of a permanent site and minimise potentially abortive expenditure.
“At the present time, there is no identified temporary site for Travellers in the Derbyshire Dales.”
Officials said: “Development and delivery of traveller sites is a high risk process with competing pressures and financial implications. The main significant risks currently include the identification of suitable sites, working with landowners willing to sell land, securing planning and grant support.”
