BAILIFFS POISED
A FAMILY of travellers who have been pitched on two unauthorised encampments in Ashbourne for nearly two months could face the bailifs if they do not move on soon.
Eviction papers were served to the travellers at the leisure centre car park on Friday, December 21, which puts the courts in control and, if the family chooses to stay, on the public amenity, they could now be forcibly removed.
The five caravans, along with three vans and a car, first set up on Fishpond Meadow on Sunday, November 4 – hours before they were due to be forced off an encampment in Bakewell. They were asked on Tuesday, December 11 to move off the town’s overspill car park, in Park Road, to a temporary ‘tolerated site’ in Matlock Bath and they evenutally moved on Sunday, December 16 – but only half a mile across town to the leisure centre car park.
Then, on Friday, December 21, Derbyshire Dales District Council successfully applied for a court order forcing them to move on, and the eviction papers were presented to the family that afternoon.
However, at the time of going to press, the family is still pitched up on the district council-owned leisure centre car park and the issue is now in the hands of the courts. Nobody was available for comment at Derbyshire Dales District Council, because its administrative offices have been closed from Christmas Eve until today.