Residents who want to buy Derbyshire car park set for housing told they can no longer leave their vehicles there

A group of residents living in the Cavendish Road area of Matlock have formed the Matlock Community Land Trust in a bid to buy a car park.

They have been allowed to use the Derbyshire County Council owned Cavendish Road car park for years but the authority is looking to sell the site for a 30-home housing development.

The community group wants to buy the land and adjacent playing field and turn it into a development of eight affordable homes, retain part of the car park for residents to continue parking their vehicles on and to set up a series of allotments and a community orchard.

However, before those plans can get off the ground, the council has sent a letter, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, issued on April 14, informing residents that the site is to be secured “to make sure we guard against any inappropriate use” and closed from April 21.

It says residents must move their vehicles before this date and that the closure is to take place while the future of the car park is reviewed.

The site had been a car park for the nearby Chatsworth Hall council complex, which the authority now says it has entirely vacated, with the entire facility up for rent on its website.

It refers to the Chatsworth Hall site as a “substantial office campus”, totalling 73,602 square feet of floor space, split into six sections, with a rateable business rate value of £155,000.

A member of the newly formed community group said the police cadets have been using the facility in recent months.

This is said to have caused parking issues for residents, with visitors not parking in the council car park, and instead reportedly blocking driveways and causing arguments.

They said: “Putting over thirty local residents’ cars out on the local roads will just add to the traffic problems that we experience on the Cavendish Road/Wellington Street area of Matlock.

“Losing this community asset would be extremely detrimental for the local community.

“This letter seems to ignore the needs of local people and runs roughshod over their wishes to park in a safe and responsible way.

“We are working to produce a sustainable alternative to yet another overpriced, unwarranted housing development that only results in maximising developer profits rather than provide what is actually needed for Matlock and its residents.

“We have already drawn up indicative plans and feel that our solutions would be the best use of the land, benefiting local people and not causing additional pressures on already over capacity local roads.

“‘Getting best value for council assets deemed surplus to requirements does not mean ignoring the value of these assets to local people.

“The sale of the land must not be a foregone conclusion based solely on the highest bidder.

“This would contradict national planning policy regarding community engagement and the needs of Matlock, which is already feeling the negative impacts of far too much new build development to the north of the town.”

The group hopes its plans will see the land continue to provide community benefit “in perpetuity” and help offset the loss of Starkholmes Allotments site, with tenants there evicted after 100 years of tenure, to pave way for development.

In response, a county council spokesperson issued a reworded version of the letter the authority sent to residents.

They did not answer, when asked, whether it would consider selling the land to the community group, or whether it was aware of the group’s plans for the plot.

The spokesperson said: “The car park which is off Cavendish Road was used for many years for our employees who worked at Chatsworth Hall.

“We no longer have any employees using Chatsworth Hall which means we no longer need this car park. Our duty for the taxpayers of Derbyshire is to seek best value for any land or buildings we no longer need.

“While we look for alternative options for the car park we intend to secure the site to make sure that we guard against any inappropriate use.

“This will take place on Friday, April 21.

“We are aware that a small number of local residents have been using the car park and we have written to all residents close to the site asking them to move their car before this date.”