Matlock community group granted right to bid for Derbyshire County Council car park

The Matlock Community Land Trust (MCLT) has been successful in its application to Derbyshire Dales District Council (DDDC) for the Cavendish Road car park and the adjacent playing field to be designated as an ‘asset of community value’.

As previously reported, the county authority put the 0.9 hectare site up for sale earlier this year, causing outcry among local residents who had used the car park freely for decades and feared that it would be filled with densely-built housing – adding to other developments already in the pipeline for Matlock’s northern edge.

Instead, those residents are putting forward their own plan for a smaller number of social housing units, a community orchard, pond and allotments as well as parking spaces, but all that depends on MCLT striking a deal with the county council.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “No one wants the imposition of more volume houses on Matlock Bank. This proposed development of thirty houses could join up to the already existing plans to build over 420 houses on the Wolds fields.

“It is well documented what a huge development such as this would do to our town with all of the issues to do with flooding, traffic problems, the lack of infrastructure and further strain on overstretched local services.”

They added: “It seems ridiculous to build over green space that is ideal for allotments. Our plans fit into what local communities all over the country are doing and that is putting local people first and enhancing local assets rather than destroying them.”

Any property or land can be nominated and listed as an ACV if its main use is to further the social wellbeing or interests of the local community.

A spokesperson for DDDC confirmed that the status had been granted on July 21, and described the decision as “a technical issue for us rather than a political one.”

The new designation means that MCLT now has time to put the necessary funding together in order to buy the car park and playing field, keeping it in community ownership in perpetuity.

Typically, once a community group notifies the seller of its intent to buy an ACV property, there is a six-month moratorium on selling it to any other party though the county council would be free to continue negotiations with rival bidders.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said: “The land is no longer required by the council and is currently being marketed for sale. The decision has never been made to sell the land for housing. We will carefully consider all offers before making a final decision and have no set view as to what the land could be used for.

“We continue to actively engage with Matlock Community Land Trust and look forward to receiving their bid, should they decide to make one. With all land sales it is not necessarily the highest price that will be successful as we will look carefully at what each bid would offer in terms as social value, alongside any financial benefits.”

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