Travellers moved on from High Peak supermarket car park

Travellers arrived at Glossop Lidl’s car park, adjacent to the Howard Town Mill car park earlier this week.

However, they have already been moved on and the swift actions of the council has been praised by High Peak MP Robert Largan.

Speaking this morning he said: “Yesterday afternoon when I went to visit the site, High Peak Borough Council Civil Enforcement Team were at the scene, following my request for action yesterday morning.“I’m really pleased the Council listened and acted swiftly on this occasion. We’ve got the right result and the disabled parking bays are now free again for those who need them.”

Robert said he contacted Derbyshire Police, High Peak Borough Council and the car park operator asking them to take urgent action so residents and businesses were not impacted for too long.

The Government has recently brought forward new laws to make unauthorised camps a criminal offence, not just a civil matter and expanded the powers police have in relation to unauthorised encampments.

The amended powers came into force for England and Wales on 28 June 2022. This change in the law has helped get situations like this resolved too, says the MP.

A spokesperson for High Peak Borough Council added: “It is illegal for anyone to camp on land, if they do not have the owners' permission, planning permission and the appropriate licence.

“We will only deal with unauthorised camping on land owned by ourselves. We might sometimes act on behalf of landowners if they ask us to do so.”