Agenda item

The report acknowledges the importance of consultation with all involved, local communities and gypsy and travellers and details how this can take place. Lease agreements outlining expectations and responsibilities were considered and a proposal is contained within the report. The report provides clarity over the council decision making process.  The report also makes some recommendations in respect of funding to test out the viability of a possible permanent site and additional officer time in order to further progress the acquisition for sites. 

Councillor Marilyn Franks introduced a report put forward by the Traveller Working Group regarding the provision of gypsy and traveller sites within the district. The report began by noting the District Council’s duty as the Housing Authority to provide accommodation to those specific Gypsy and Traveller families with an accepted local connection to the Derbyshire Dales. Members were informed of the Working Group’s aim to provide political leadership in identifying potential solutions to the unresolved issues being faced.

The task of the working group was to identify two permanent Gypsy/Traveller sites and three temporary Gypsy/Traveller sites based across the district.  The report detailed the work and conclusions of the group. It was noted within the report, that whilst Council-owned car parks are not ideal temporary sites, due to the legal duty of the Council to provide accommodation for two families, a level of pragmatism was required when considering the available options. The working group had agreed that the long-term solution to the issue was to identify permanent sites for the two families due to their high level of assessed need, the report outlined proposals which aimed to assist in achieving this long-term aim.

The report also acknowledged the importance of consultation with all involved parties and detailed how this would take place. Lease agreements outlining expectations and responsibilities were considered and proposals were contained within the report. The report also provided clarity over the Council’s decision making process and made recommendations regarding funding to test out the viability of a possible permanent site and additional officer time in order to further progress the acquisition for sites.

It was moved by Councillor Marilyn Franks, seconded by Councillor Peter Slack and

RESOLVED (unanimously)

1.    That the Council approves and adopts a requirement to undertake online consultation for a minimum of six-weeks, supplemented by public meetings on proposals to allocate land for use as temporary or permanent Traveller sites with relevant consultation materials being made available on the Council’s website and in other formats to enable a wide level of response.

2.    That the Council approves and adopts the decision making processes outlined in Section 3 of the report in respect of permanent and temporary traveller sites with the additional requirement that Stage 1 includes as its first step, the preparation of evaluation criteria to be applied in all cases and the process by which those criteria are to be applied.

3.    That the Council recommends the Planning Policy Manager to amend the assessment of Clifton Road Coach and Car Park against Local Plan Policy HC6 in view of the representations received from a member of the public.

4.    That the Council agrees to undertake a period of six-weeks of online consultation supplemented by public meetings in respect of designating The Woodyard, Homesford as a temporary or permanent Traveller site post completion of the RIBA stage 3 assessment.

5.    That following positive engagement with the Traveller families and confirmation that the site is a viable option, authority be delegated to the Director of Housing to commission the necessary works up to RIBA Stage 3 (planning submission) and that a supplementary revenue budget of £25,000 be financed from the General Reserve to facilitate this work.

6.    That the Council appoints land agents to proactively seek suitable locations and undertake targeted engagement with local landowners and organisations, such as the NFU, to establish whether any landowners would be willing to enter into negotiations.

7.    That the Council approves a supplementary revenue budget of £33,000 to be financed from the General Reserve to establish a 2 year fixed term contract position(s) as recommended by the Corporate Leadership Team to assist with the search for sites and manage any future designated sites.

8.    That the Council adopt Tenancy Agreements to establish agreed standards of behaviour and outline what action the Council will take in the event of breaches of the agreement.

The Chair declared the motion CARRIED.