Travellers’ story is a guaranteed page-turner

IF you were to write a book on the story of the Derbyshire Dales District Council’s long-running quest to find a home for a family of travellers, it would be quite a page-turner.

For as long as many of us will remember, there has been a group of travellers that have been pitching up across the district, from Doveridge and Sudbury, to Matlock and Rowsley, each time being shooed away and told to find somewhere else.

It’s little wonder they’re now keen on finding a more permanent place to stop.

But is this story about to reach its final chapter?

Just as tempers in Tansley started to bubble over, and progress in securing the Knabhall Lane site appeared to be fairly glacial, the upcoming county council elections sparked discussions about the once favoured Watery Lane site in Ashbourne.

Like a game of ping pong, the ball was back on our side of the table. But it didn’t take long for it to be batted back to Tansley after Watery Lane was taken out of the running by the current county council administration.

And now, with Tansley yet to make a serve, the ball has come back to our side again, as the Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group has submitted plans to turn the Water Lane site in Clifton into a permanent pitch. It’s come as a bit of a surprise and it’s yet another plot twist.

So where will it end? Some of that might depend on the outcome of the elections next month, or the story might even start to wind up once the Clifton planning application reaches the committee.

Either way, let’s hope something is sorted soon. If not for the sake of all our sanities, then for the sake of the family that must be sick of moving from one place to another, never feeling welcome, never able to settle. And let’s just hope that, wherever they do end up, it’s a suitable site for all concerned.