Desperate owners’Gypsy site warning

Paul and Andrea Hodgkinson, who own the Wood Yard in Homesford, are relying on money from the sale to settle their long-running battle with the Norwegian Government.

In 2006 the couple sold their Dales home to buy a 200-acre mountain farmstead in the Telemark region of south Norway.

But shortly afterwards, they received a letter from the Statens Vegvesen, the Norwegian equivalent of the Department for Transport, saying the previous owner had sold part of the land a second time to the Norwegian government.

Mr Hodgkinson said: “The additional land sale was done without our knowledge and was completed only after we had bought our farm.”

A lengthy battle ensued – which involved East Midlands MEP Glenys Willmott as well as a much-publicised petition – and the Norwegian government eventually relented.

But in recent months, the Norwegian bank responsible for the couple’s mortgage have demanded full payment on the farm – or they will repossess the property.

Mr Hodgkinson said: “If we can get Derbyshire Dales District Council to confirm they are going to purchase the site in writing and we can agree a price, then we can show that to the court.”

The couple have until the end of April to pay the balance on the property – or they will lose everything.

“If the council cannot confirm, though, the site is not going to be available as we are on a severe time scale here.”

But a spokesperson for Derbyshire Dales District Council said that it was made “absolutely clear” at last month’s meeting that the authority would keep working to identify other sites to accommodate a homeless traveller family.

The spokesperson said: “It would be totally inappropriate to commit public funds at this early stage to a site that has no planning permission, might not be the eventual selected location and where local people have not yet had an opportunity to comment in any detail.”