Family leave car park but pitch up at unofficial site just half a mile away

ASHBOURNE’S travellers have moved off their unauthorised encampment at Fishpond Meadow – but the family then pitched up at another unauthorised site less than half a mile away.

The five caravans and handful of vehicles started leaving the overspill car park on Sunday morning, after being asked by Derbyshire Dales District Council to set up on a “temporary tolerated” site in Matlock Bath.

But rather than head there, the family set up on the car park at Ashbourne’s Leisure Centre – and have since been ordered to leave.

The new temporary tolerated site, on an overspill car park in Matlock Bath, had been set aside for them after a heated discussion among councillors earlier this month.

The site at Tinti’s Yard is intended to provide a base for the family to settle on until the end of March – buying council bosses time to find a more permanent piece of land.

The authority is duty-bound to find land for them to settle but the family have declared themselves homeless, which has put more pressure on the council to find a permanent site. The unauthorised encampment on Fishpond Meadow has caused anger among residents in Ashbourne and the travellers stayed for six weeks before moving to the leisure centre.

Heated discussions then erupted around the town and on social media, with people worried about the loss of parking at the site, which is already under pressure from people parking at nearby health centres.

However, Derbyshire Dales District Council says its officers moved in on Monday to meet the travellers and to remind them a site had been made available in Matlock Bath.

A spokesman for the authority said: “Derbyshire Dales District Council can confirm that officers met the travellers in Ashbourne on Monday after the family moved from an unauthorised encampment at Fishpond Meadow to the town’s leisure centre car park.

“We reiterated to them that, under the terms of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which we are legally obliged to abide by following the family’s homelessness application, we have identified a temporary tolerated site owned by the council in the Station Car Park in Matlock Bath and that we expect them to have left the current site by Wednesday of this week.

“We are now in the process of taking court possession proceedings to press for eviction in the event of them not leaving the leisure centre car park by Wednesday.”