Dales councillors approve money for potential traveller sites without knowing where they are

Councillors have approved money for investigations into three potential Derbyshire traveller sites without saying where any of them are – and with only five members kept in the loop. At a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting last night (November 21) the authority approved plans to give up to £25,000 to consultants to pursue three potential private plots of land which could be turned into Traveller sites.

Councillors and council officers claimed that because the plots of land were owned by private landowners, the sites could not be identified. The meeting was told that just five councillors knew the locations of the sites, leader Cllr Steve Flitter, co-deputy leader Cllr Bob Butcher, co-deputy leader Cllr Neil Buttle, Cllr Laura Mellstrom (because she had deputised at a leaders meeting) and Cllr Marilyn Franks (as chair of Gypsy and Traveller working group).

Leading council officials have drawn up a report which has been circulated to officers but not to the remaining councillors, including the rest of the Gypsy and Traveller working group. Cllr Martin Burfoot, chairing the meeting, confirmed that he too had not seen the report.

He said: “I must admit that when I first saw this agenda item only a week ago I had doubts about the three privately owned sites and voting for sort of a pig in a poke (something that is bought without first being inspected) in effect because I didn’t know where they were. I knew they were privately owned and I realised when it was explained to me about the commercial sensitivity of revealing a privately owned site. I have been reassured tonight that the recommendations are acceptable to me.”

Cllr Sue Hobson, leader of the opposition Conservative Group, said the “lack of transparency” was “absolutely appalling” and that “someone has to know what we are spending our money on”, dubbing it “Kafkaesque” (surreal, bizarre or illogical). She said checks and balances were needed when spending public money.

Cllr Nick Whitehead, Labour, said: “We don’t know the sites. I don’t know the sites, but we shouldn’t know the sites. It is confidentiality, these are private landowners, it is not our business to know the sites as individual members. We have engaged a professional company to do that engagement work for us.”

Councillors agreed to give £25,000 to consultants ARK of which £12,000 was for viability studies (£4,000 each) into the three unknown private sites and £13,000 was to hire a development agency to assist with the potential purchases. Cllr Stuart Less said this was the equivalent of “chucking endless money at a bottomless pit”.

The council also faced a wide array of complaints over other transparency issues regarding the Traveller site search, refusing to release a report from the consultants which is said to show that developing a site known as the Woodyard off the A6 at Homesford, near Cromford, would be unviable due to an estimated project cost of £1.3 million. Plans for eight Traveller pitches were approved by the council in September 2023, 15 months after it rejected the same plans.

Site-suitability assessments also will not be released, to the frustrations of residents in Matlock Bath and Rowsley, speaking at the meeting, who wished to know how and why their villages had continued to be considered on a traveller site shortlist. Victor Launert, from Matlock Bath, dubbed the current situation “frankly disgusting”, saying the village had done its fair share to support the council’s search for temporary and permanent Traveller sites, including shouting, swearing and loud electricity generators.

He said: “For two temporary years we have been woken up by this sort of noise, for two temporary years our kids have tried to study for exams to it, for two temporary years we have worked to this, for two temporary years we have tried to relax in our gardens to this, for two temporary years we have had to keep our windows shut to this. Councillors, you have imposed enough on Matlock Bath.

"We have done what you asked for two years and before that, unrecognised for another two to three years, whatever the outcome for a search for a permanent site, Matlock Bath should not remain on the temporary site list for a second longer, you have stolen millions of minutes of our peace over the past two years, enough is enough.”

Cllr Victoria Friend, chair of Rowsley Parish Council, said the Station Road car park site had been called “not appropriate” for a permanent site in 2012 by Paul Wilson, the council’s chief executive, and yet made it onto a shortlist again this year – with councillors now voting to drop further consideration. She said the “community deserves full transparency”.

Councillors voted to scrap further work to pursue the Rowsley site, along with the Woodyard and a Derbyshire County Council plot in Watery Lane, Ashbourne, which had previously been touted as a permanent plot but was pulled by the county council due to plans for a bypass. Cllr Dermot Murphy, Conservative, said: “In recent years the good standing of Derbyshire Dales District Council has been damaged by the lack of transparency concerning traveller sites. Lets share the detailed analysis that created this figure of £1.3 million.”

Cllr Burfoot told the meeting that the ARK report into the Woodyard could not be released due to “personal and commercially sensitive information”, while Rob Cogings, the council’s head of housing, claimed it would not be right for the council to pay for a report and then make it public, which could then benefit the private landowners of the site. Councillors also approved plans to give the consultants the ability to go through auction listings to bid for land, with £200,000 already set aside for land purchases.

Mr Cogings said this was to give the authority as many options as possible, but conceded that there was still a risk of “wasting public money” buying a site which was then not fit for purpose and had to be sold. Cllr Lees suggested potential auction sites could include pubs with large car parks.

Cllr Joanne Linthwaite, who has been heavily involved in the auction process outside of the council, said there were significant risks with auction purchases, with legal documents for listing often only available an hour and a half before the lots are sold.

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