Derbyshire Dales District Council has renewed its appeal to local landowners to come forward with suggestions for a permanent Traveller site after deciding not to further pursue farmland that had been under discussion at Callow, near Wirksworth.
It had originally been envisaged that officers would present a report on the Callow site to a full meeting of the council on 16 March, but the authority has now agreed as part of its due diligence process that the site is not financially viable for the council or deliverable and that it would not have been possible to take a positive recommendation to the meeting.
A spokesperson said:
"This isn't the first time that a potential commercial land negotiation has failed at this stage. What makes this case unusual is the public interest in this particular site ahead of the start of the democratic process and a process of public consultation.
"We would add only that the preliminary discussions and evaluations that have taken place over recent months are no different to discussions that take place on many potential development opportunity sites and that the process to date has been carried out properly and would have included extensive public consultation had the proposal been taken forward for Council decision and a possible planning application.”
