At the meeting of DDDC on 9th December to discuss temporary tolerated traveller sites, as Chair of the Parish Council, I presented the petition with all the current signatures – on line and paper - 716. I then went on to briefly explain what effect the use of the site has had on both the residents and the visitors. I continued by reiterating the facts and figures on loss of income to the village and to DDDC.

My final paragraph was: It is now time for Derbyshire Dales District Council to face, full on, the consequences of their actions, take responsibility and then begin the reparation to Matlock Bath for the damage their actions have caused. The first step in this process must be the removal of the coach and car park from the list of temporary tolerated traveller sites.

In the council meeting, any questions from councillors were then asked about the report and then the Progressive Alliance proposed that two of the six sites on the list were removed. It was then proposed that the Matlock site be a 12 months of the year temporary site.

The other three sites will become calendared use sites with the Matlock Bath coach and car park being used as a temporary tolerated traveller site only between 1st November and 28th February. The use of all these sites will be for 2 years only.

This is a small victory and is of course for the car and coach park, a quieter time of the year. However the Parish Council will now attempt to negotiate with DDDC so that, for these four months, coach parking is available somewhere in that area.

We now must start work on ‘the reparation’ for the village. Firstly as per our petition, DDDC need to make the station car and coach park safe from illegal encampments. We will be touch with coach operator experts who can advise DDDC how to do this.

We may have won a bit of a battle BUT the war is not over so this petition will remain live and we will not claim a victory until all the aims are achieved.

Thank you all for your continued support