Two sites looked at in council's bid for Traveller homes

A 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.

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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 northwest 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.