A political spat has broken out over plans from one Derbyshire council to seize land off another in order to develop a Traveller site.

Earlier this month, Derbyshire Dales District Council agreed to start the ball rolling on a potential compulsory purchase challenge against Derbyshire County Council over land in Watery Lane, Ashbourne.

In response, the county council’s Reform administration has hit out at the district authority, led by a “progressive alliance” of Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, Labour and a non-aligned councillor.

Both councils are set to be scrapped and merged into one authority in 2028, including amalgamating their land ownership.

In a Reform-issued press release, the county administration issued a “strong warning” to Ashbourne residents, claiming the planned compulsory purchase is “heavy-handed, undemocratic and deeply concerning”.

It said: “The Reform administration has raised serious objections to what it sees as an attempt by Liberal Democrat leaders to push through a controversial decision with minimal regard for local opinion.”

A spokesperson for the Reform administration said: “Let’s be clear — this is a Lib Dem-led district council preparing to force a major development on Ashbourne residents, even threatening compulsory purchase to get their way. That is not consultation. That is not cooperation. That is imposition.

“Residents will rightly question why this is suddenly being pushed with such urgency after years of inaction.

“After more than a decade of getting nowhere, residents are right to ask: why Ashbourne, why now, and why this site?”

“The reality is the Liberal Democrat leadership knows they are at risk of losing control of the district council next year — and this looks like a clear attempt to rush it through before that happens.”

The Reform county administration says “taxpayers should not foot the bill for political failure”, that “pursuing legal action will waste public money” and that there are unanswered questions about alternative sites elsewhere in the district.

It has called for the district council to “immediately halt escalation” and rule out compulsory purchase, provide costs for developing this plot and others, and to consult with Ashbourne residents.

At a Dales meeting on Thursday, May 14, councillors agreed to step up their long-running pursuit – across numerous administrations – of land off Watery Lane in Ashbourne for a permanent Traveller site for families legally declared homeless, 11 years on from planning approval being granted on the site.

The site in question sits metres to the west of the town’s household waste tip, and close to a sewage treatment plant, allotments and cemetery.

Paul Wilson, the district council’s chief executive, told the meeting: “Clearly any decision to embark upon compulsory purchase is a very significant decision to take.

“So far the communications have not delivered a positive result.”

He said the plan was to approach the county council one final time before launching compulsory purchase measures – this means the authority would seize it by legal force.

Mr Wilson said the Watery Lane site had already previously been given planning permission and vetted by a Local Plan inspector.

He said: “There is no other better site in the many years we have been looking for a site. We have gone to very significant lengths and efforts over many years, through three administrations, to try and solve this.”

Mr Wilson described the potential compulsory purchase as “very serious”, saying: “We have never tried or even considered a compulsory purchase order.”

He said the authority needed to prove it had “exhausted all opportunities” and “left no stone unturned” in efforts to identify a permanent Gypsy and Traveller site, or face having its Local Plan rejected.

Mr Wilson said: “I have written twice to the county council, I have had a letter from the leader of the county council, saying ‘no’, I have got countless emails from the county council, saying ‘no’, myself and the leader of the council have sat in the office of the leader of the county council, and he said ‘no’, I am not sure what else I can do other than perhaps try one final time and say we are going to consider another course of action if we are not able to reach an agreement.”

Mr Wilson said the county council would likely object to the site being included in the authority’s upcoming Local Plan – a document which sets out the future housing blueprint for the area.

A compulsory purchase plan would cost up to £25,000, the district council said, with senior officials also able to spend up to £50,000 extra if required.

The council has already set aside £500,000 to find and develop a permanent Traveller site.

In 2015, the Dales had approved plans for a permanent Gypsy and Traveller site in Watery Lane, with a 25-year lease agreed in principle with the then Labour-run county council in 2016.

However, with the deal in the final stages, the county council changed hands in May 2017 to the Conservatives, who ceased talks due to investigations into long-held plans for an Ashbourne bypass, which may require the land in question.

That pause on the land continued throughout the Conservatives two terms at County Hall despite numerous approaches from the district under both fellow Tories and opposition parties.

Reform UK took control at County Hall last May and the district made a fresh approach to see if it could lease the Watery Lane land it had been on the verge of leasing in 2017.

Despite the change in political control, including an Ashbourne county councillor being the authority’s chairman, the authority said it is “not in a position to offer up” the plot “as it is required to meet their own (unstated) strategic plans” which they do not see changing “in the foreseeable future”.