It's many people's favourite town but what's bothering the locals?

A DERBYSHIRE town that certainly has a claim to be one of the best in the county seems to be a place of pure happiness and a fairytale from the outside - but do residents agree?

- Oscar Fisher is in Belper

It’s no secret that I love Belper and I been lucky enough to call it home for nearly two years now.

Its high street is certainly one of Derbyshire’s best - if not the best - and The Sunday Times often puts it as one of the best in the entire country. But with busy shopping streets comes busy car parks, busy buses and a whole host of potential issues, but does that tarnish Belper to a point of concern for its natives?

I paid a visit to the town on a bright autumnal morning to find out. I must have asked a dozen-or-so people over the course of an hour, and I would be lying if everyone I spoke to had a chip on their shoulder. In fact, most people seemed fine and dandy about life in the town on the whole.

Shoppers spawn in and out of the town via the bus station, travelling from up north in the Peak District, and from as far south as Shardlow, one visitor said.

As a resident often facing trips to and from the town centre, I very much expected the dreaded roadworks situation to arise very quickly - and that’s what happened after a few minutes of nagging fellow townfolk.

Brian Elliott, 75, lives in Green Lane, a narrow old street that feeds onto the High Street.

He says roadworks can cripple the town on select days, not helped by the one-way systems near the top of the hill to the east.