Residents and councillors fuming over ‘secret’ plans for a potential Derbyshire Traveller site

A Kirk Ireton Parish Council meeting this wek discussed the potential Traveller site on a vacant field near Hasker Farm, a stone’s throw to the east of tourism hotspot Carsington Water.

Derbyshire Dales District Council has been having discussions with the private landowner for an extended period of time, it has been revealed, after a request for sites was issued.During the meeting, district councillors Dermot Murphy and Richard Bright spoke about their “disappointment” and “embarrassment” at the way the issue has been handled.

They claim they had not been told anything about it, with details being actively withheld about the potential plans’ very existence – hearing about it from residents first.

Cllrs Murphy and Bright spoke about how their own queries to the council itself resulted in contradictions over how much information was available and what could be shared, which they felt showed that the veil of secrecy was still being upheld.

The plot of land in question would be used for four caravans and two families, and would include a toilet block and a shower block, the parish council meeting was told.

Around 20 people live in nine houses at Hasker Farm, which sits on the northeast side of Carsington Water, north of Kirk Ireton.Plans for the site are said to be in advanced stages, with pre-planning application discussions being held and the council and the landowner signing a lease for his land. The council contest this, saying no agreement has been reached.The district authority aims to bring the site to a full council meeting on March 16, at which councillors would be asked for permission to progress to a planning application and asked for the relevant money with which to do so, the meeting was told.

This is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, the meeting was told.

Paul Williamson, who has lived at Hasker Farm for nine years, said: “Our issue is with the council itself and the process it has followed.

“We have been contacted by the landowner who has effectively said there is nothing we can do about it because he has signed a lease.

“The landowner has made a very well-meaning offer and we absolutely respect that gesture in of itself.

“Our issue is the council process and the secrecy of it. We have had huge support and we are certainly not going to let this thoroughly broken process proceed.”

Cllr Dermot Murphy, who represents the area on Derbyshire County Council, told the meeting: “I am 100 per cent in support of what you guys are doing at Hasker Farm.

“As a district council we knew that there had been a call out for land for a site and understand that someone had approached the district council and that, because of sensitivity, officers didn’t want to tell us who it was or where it was.

“There is a family of Travellers in the Matlock Bath station car park, who were supposed to be moved from there by January 31 but there is nowhere else for them to go, so they are going to be there for a while, so there is some desperation to find them a site.

“The site in Cromford (known as the Woodyard, in Homesford, off the A6 between Cromford and Crich) was assessed and rejected but that had more going for it than Hasker Farm.

“If you look at the reasons why it was turned down it is the same as at Hasker Farm, it is worse at Hasker Farm.”

The district council rejected the site at the Woodyard in June last year due to the danger of the A6 and the 3km distance between it and the nearest amenities.

Hasker Farm is more than 3km from the nearest facilities in Wirksworth.

Cllr Murphy continued: “For us, it is about the transparency of the issue. It looks like there is a race to get the Hasker Farm site approved.

“If it makes it onto the March 16 agenda we will be asked for lots of money, hundreds of thousands of pounds to build the units up there.

“Rest assured we are with you guys at Hasker Farm and there is hope we can stop this yet, but we are not going to count our chickens yet.”

Cllr Richard Bright, who represents the area on the district council, said he found out about the potential site midway through last week through an email from a resident.

He told the meeting: “I am in the same situation as a lot of you are. The council are just not replying.

“They are still saying there is nothing in the pipeline. I got one email saying nothing is happening, nothing to see here.

“It is rather embarrassing and I am quite ashamed. I am not ashamed that we are trying to find a home for a Traveller family but I am embarrassed about how it is being done.It is like it is being kept in somebody’s back pocket. We haven’t had any confirmation from officers yet.”

He said he was concerned about the “secrecy”.

Hasker Farm residents, who did not want to be identified, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that they did not feel the site was sustainable.

They spoke of the site’s vicinity to Carsington Water and its distance from amenities such as schools, bus links, shops and supermarkets.

Residents told the LDRS they are often unable to get off the site in winter, due to its exposed and isolated location 800 feet above sea level.

Mr Williamson told the LDRS: “It has been completely farcical. The council’s own assessment would show it is not viable.

“We have had the shock of having this happen on our land. We do respect the landowner and he has put his reputation in the community here on the line to do this.

“What the council is doing is pitting local people against each other and we feel they think it is fine if everyone is going at each other. We feel we have no choice left to us.”

A resident said a fire engine had struggled to get up the narrow single-track access lane to the Hasker Farm site last month and feared that emergency services would not always be able to respond to assist residents.

Mr Williamson said the introduction of caravans onto the site, with the potential for further unwarranted families to join, “created a safety nightmare for a community”.

One resident said: “The council probably feel it is an easy option because it isn’t in a town, it is just in a village.”

Mr Williamson said residents living at Hasker Farm were not opposed to the support being offered to Travellers but that the community were upset at the council’s actions, saying the authority had lost their trust.

A district council spokesperson said: “While we recognise the concerns of the local community in this matter we are puzzled by claims that the process to date has not been carried out properly.

“At the present time, no agreement has been reached with the landowner in respect of the purchase or lease of the site. This remains subject to confidential negotiation, as you would expect.

“But we remain committed to undertaking consultation on any proposals. All interested parties and stakeholders will be able to have their say and make their views known to us.

“We are currently preparing a report for consideration by the council on March 16. No action will be taken to develop a permanent Traveller site until that meeting makes a decision.

“The report will set out the consultation processes and, if council vote to take the matter forward, there will then be a statutory planning process, with accompanying consultation.

“Even if any planning application were to be approved, council would then need to make a final decision on how to proceed. Again there would be an opportunity for interested parties and stakeholders to submit their views.”