Derbyshire Dales District Council is acting to resolve the "adverse impact" of the unauthorised Traveller encampment on land it owns in Ashbourne's Clifton Road coach park - but the leadership has expressed its disappointment at Derbyshire County Council's unwillingness to help.
A special meeting of the District Council's Community and Environment Committee voted last night (Thursday 11th December) to agree in principle to identify a temporary site for occupation by the named Travellers - to whom the authority owes a legal homelessness obligation - at the Council’s Depot in Mayfield Road, Ashbourne.
After the meeting, the District Council's leadership issued a statement claiming the County Council was being "unreasonable" in not agreeing to release approved land it owns with previous planning consent for a Traveller site on Watery Lane in Ashbourne.
The statement from the District Council's Progressive Alliance leadership of Liberal Democrats, Greens and Labour, said:
"The Watery Lane site went into our approved Local Plan back in 2015 but was subsequently blocked by a new Conservative administration two years later on the basis that it was on one of the routes for the long-proposed Ashbourne by-pass.
"That is no longer the case, which is why we are expressing our disappointment with the new Reform administration at the County Council, which continues to resist our pleas to release Watery Lane to help relieve the current impact on Ashbourne residents. The County claim the site is needed for their 'strategic plans' but don't tell us what those plans are. This, we believe, is unreasonable, especially considering the urgency of the current situation."
Thursday's decision to identify Mayfield Road as a temporary site for the Traveller family is subject to a number of conditions, including the immediate submission of a temporary planning application and appropriate risk management measures.
The District Council will also take necessary steps to secure, or, where that is not immediately possible, progress towards securing a variation, waiver, discharge or override of any restrictive covenant likely to prevent the development or use of the proposed site and will undertake a full Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) and Human Rights proportionality assessment.
The Council's Housing Operations Manager was given authority to liaise with the Traveller family to facilitate voluntary relocation to the approved temporary site. In the event voluntary relocation is not successful, the Director of Governance and Corporate Services was authorised to initiate legal proceedings to secure the removal of the unauthorised Traveller family from Clifton Road and to prevent their unlawful occupation of other sites as required.
It was also agreed that a further report be presented to a meeting of the Community and Environment Committee on 15 January 2026, providing an update on the Council’s Corporate Plan objective to identify an alternative permanent Traveller site.
The meeting was reminded that in June 2015 planning permission was granted for the change of use of well-screened land at Watery Lane, Ashbourne, to provide four family pitches. After positive discussions with Derbyshire County Council’s Property Department, it had been agreed in principle that this site could be taken forward - and it was subsequently allocated in the Adopted Derbyshire Dales Local Plan as a Gypsy and Traveller site.
Until the start of November, the Traveller family in question had been encamped for a number of months on a different part of Watery Lane, also owned by the County Council.
The meeting heard that since their unauthorised switch to Clifton Road, representations had been received from Ashbourne Town Council, local residents and local schools outlining the detrimental impact that occupation of this site was having, given its proximity to St Oswald’s Hospital, nearby homes and the provision for bus/coach parking in the town, which was adversely impacting on local school activities.
The Travellers' proposed new temporary home at the Mayfield Road depot would need "repurposing", councillors were told. It is currently used by the Council’s Clean and Green Team and provides an operational base for District Council services in the town and south of the district. Storage facilities for equipment and machinery would need to be relocated. The site also currently provides a space for teams to tip waste from cemeteries and church yards, street sweepings, and grass cuttings.
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