Plans to turn a disused Derbyshire woodland plot into a permanent Traveller site set to be refused

The application, submitted by Mr and Mrs Hodgkinson, seeks to turn the site known as “The Woodyard” off the A6 through Homesford, near Cromford, into an eight-pitch Traveller site.

Derbyshire Dales District Council planning officials have recommended that the plans are rejected at a meeting on Tuesday, September 12.

This comes 15 months after councillors rejected the same plans in June 2022, saying the plot was neither suitable nor sustainable, despite an emotive plea from Derbyshire’s Gypsy and Traveller liaison, Dr Siobhan Spencer.

The plot is three kilometres from Cromford with footpaths to bus stops, but councillors feared safety risks on the fast-paced A6 and that all travel would be via cars.

Since then the council has been hit by controversy and allegations of “cover-ups” involving its ongoing decades-long search for permanent or temporary Traveller sites, which included the former leader, now former councillor Garry Purdy, being suspended by the Conservative Group and resigning from the authority.

This related to a temporary site for one homeless family – who identify as Romani Gypsy – staying on the Matlock Bath station coach park.

The controversies also included the council’s executive leadership liaising with a convicted drug dealer over a potential plot near Carsington Water without carrying out any basic background checks on the person they were talking to for months.

A decision over the Woodyard was requested by the agent for the applicants to take place before the election due to the urgency of the situation, but it was deferred until after the May elections.

During those elections the authority moved out of Conservative control and into a “progressive alliance” between the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Green Party.

Council planners detail that the 0.8-acre site – less than half the size of a football pitch – was given temporary permission for three pitches in 2014 and plans for seven pitches were refused in 2017 and dismissed at appeal due to its “isolated” location.

Dr Spencer, on behalf of the Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group, wrote: “Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group made an application on this site in 2014 and obtained a three-year permission, after exhaustive searches for land for a site within the Derbyshire Dales.

“We have obtained sites in many district boroughs and this is one of the better places we have identified over the many years we have worked on Gypsy and Traveller planning issues.

“We also obtained a permission on land at Watery Lane in Ashbourne but were unable to source funds to develop these much needed sites.

“It is extremely difficult for elderly and disabled people to live without adequate facilities and there is a pressing need before we come to yet another winter.

“It is understandable that local businesses, (many which have been very kind and supportive of DGLG and the families) would like car parks back for visitors.

“DGLG fully supports the application.”

Derbyshire County Council’s highways planners have said the site could be created “without detriment to other road users” and that visibility from the access point off the A6 is acceptable.

The county council’s tree officer says the site includes a number of protected trees which must be retained and not harmed, with assessments to cover the potential impact.

Meanwhile, the district council’s tree and landscape officer says the impact of the proposed development on the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site would “potentially be significant”.

The Environment Agency has objected to the scheme due to the lack of a flood risk assessment with the plans.

Alongside this, the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Partnership commented: “The introduction of eight caravan pitches and their occupation by up to as many caravans, complete with associated paraphernalia, is likely to unacceptably urbanise the setting of this section of the A6.

“The proposed development is likely to create a site with a domestic character that is incongruous with the naturalistic broadleaf woodland that surrounds it.”

Council officers, recommending refusal, wrote: “It remains that the unsustainable location of the site and harm to the character and appearance of the countryside and this part of Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site weighs significantly against the development and would not constitute a sustainable form of development.”