Unauthorised traveller site told it cannot stay

An unauthorised traveller site in Derbyshire has been refused planning permission to stay.

Landowner Sonny Sykes had applied for consent for a site which three caravans moved on to in July 2025 on a field off Fox Holes Lane in Tansley, near Matlock.

A Derbyshire Dales District Council planning meeting on Tuesday ruled against allowing the camp of two permanent and two temporary caravan pitches over its remote location on a narrow lane, its impact on the character of the area, and the site's lack of drainage and waste facilities.

Proposing the refusal, Tansley ward councillor David Hughes said: "We have to assess the plan as it is presented, not what it could be to overcome objections."

"The planning issues are substantial and outweigh those of human rights which may apply in this case," Hughes added.

Objections had been filed against the plans by Tansley Parish Council, the Environment Agency, and 107 residents alongside a 317-signature petition.

They cited the impact on the countryside, added congestion and alleged unsafe roads, the substantial distance from shops and services in an isolated rural location, drainage and waste issues, and the risk of flooding and pollution.

A total of 52 support letters had been submitted to the authority, but council officers said they had "serious concerns" that many were "not genuine".

Councillor Gareth Gee told the Tuesday meeting: "I'd like to hope in the future when a developer comes to want to build 200 houses in Tansley, they have the same stringent objections to things surrounding the same principles and we come to the same conclusion."

The Fox Holes Lane site is subject to a court-enforced injunction which prevents more than the three initial touring caravans which had arrived, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said previously.

Council officials also served an 11th-hour eviction notice last August, which was deferred.

The family had vacated the site for some time following the court intervention.

In the application, which had been submitted prior to the injunction and eviction notice, applicant Sonny Sykes said the council should allow the site as it had failed to provide sufficient allocations for travellers in the district.

He said: "What must be highlighted here is that due to the nature of this type of application, often being contentious and inflammatory, there is no 100% perfect site for a gypsy/traveller site.

"On this basis where can a council successfully fulfil their duty to provide a site and allow a settled base for a gypsy/traveller who has the right to settle to be close to family, attain medical treatment and school their children?"

In May, Derbyshire Dales threatened to compulsory purchase land in Watery Lane, Ashbourne, from Derbyshire County Council if it did not agree to hand it over to house travellers.

Both councils have for decades wrestled with the issue of finding a permanent site for the traveller families, whom they are obliged to provide for under homelessness laws.

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