Author: Sian Bacon

The DDDC at a meeting held on the 22nd July approved a consultation into six temporary Traveller sites one of which is Rowsley’s Old Station Close car park. 
The eight-week public consultation on possible temporary Traveller sites at six Derbyshire Dales locations has now started.
The consultation comprises a survey – live now at www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/Traveller-sites-survey – and a series of public meetings to be held in the vicinity of the six possible sites. The dates of the public meetings will follow.
The parish council strongly objects to the proposals to use Rowsley Old Station Close car park as a site and held a very well attended meeting on Tuesday 23rd July at which it was agreed to respond to the consultation with the following points:
1) that the seven businesses and award winning arts centre for disabled people in Old Station Close depend on the car park for their survival – it is extremely busy 7 days a week with 30-50 cars parked there at any time
2) that The uses of the cycle trail and Derwent Valley Heritage Way depend on the car park for safe and secure access to the trail, which is why it was built to lead directly into the car park! 
3) that the site is completely unsuitable for travellers. It has an extremely steep drop to the river and is unsafe, it gets very little light for most of the year because of the mature trees surrounding the site and it is damp and unwelcoming. The traveller family that they are looking to relocate said when they left of their own accord last time the council put them in Rowsley that they do not like the site and are never coming back. 
4) The site is just a few metres from the path to the local primary school and there are particular risks regarding this family from a safeguarding point of view.
The Parish Council encourage all residents to complete the consultation on the District Council website or to obtain a hard copy from the post office. 
The below QR code will take you directly to the survey

The Parish Council are looking for an experienced handyman for 15 hours per month to maintain village assets. For further information or a job description please contact the Parish Clerk at rowsleyparishcouncil@gmail.com

At the last Parish Council meeting a flood plan was agreed upon to help mitigate what are increasingly becoming regular flooding events. The Council, to enable the plan to operate effectively, needs 6 volunteers and they request any resident interested in becoming a flood warden please get in contact with the Clerk.

There is currently one vacancy on the parish council. Anyone interested in becoming a Councillor should contact the Parish Clerk.

The Derbyshire Dales District Council, at their next Community and Environment Committee meeting on Monday 22nd July 2024, are proposing that travellers be moved back onto the Old Station Road Car Park. The Parish Council has serious concerns about this proposal and are objecting to it. 

The email address for objections is committee@derbyshiredales.gov.uk and please ask that your email be shared with ALL councillors.

The Parish Council will be discussing the outcome of the meeting at an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday 23rd July at 7.30pm in the WI room of Rowsley Village Hall.