Councillor update

Derbyshire Dales District Council have 34 Councillors and I’m one of them. I have been representing first Tideswell and then an expanded ward, Tideswell and Litton and Cressbrook for the last six years. It’s been quite an experience. Talking to other Cllrs has made it clear that we are quite self reliant.

Anyway, I’ll update you on our recent work.

Local housing, rented and to buy. The Dales has around a thousand second homes. This year we doubled the Council Tax on second homes. Around a quarter of the thousand homes are continuing to discuss the changes with us. The rest have accepted their lot. We call the increase a Council Tax Premium and I’m very aware that it has been an unwelcome change for some of our part time residents.

Initial indications do show an increase in the number of second homes coming to market. And at a slightly reduced price. I’m hoping the change will make finding their first home just that little bit easier for some of our younger residents.

In other news DDDC are embarking on yet another consultation, this time it’s about moorland fires. A Public Space Protection Order. Wildfire is a serious problem for air quality, landscape and wildlife destruction, and local businesses can be devastated. The cost of wildfire is huge, peat fires do not go out easily.

The Fire and Rescue Services estimate that 97-98% of moorland fires within the National Park were caused by portable BBQs. Chinese Lanterns are also a concern.
Once our Public Space Protection Order is in place we could see £100 fines being imposed. Though I hope that people would not need more than a gentle nudge to leave the BBQ behind. To sum up it’s very likely that we will ban the use of portable BBQs, open fires and Chinese lanterns on publicly accessible land from this winter.

Many of you will be aware that DDDC are currently tackling stray wheely bins outside holiday cottages in central Tideswell and other associated waste disposal issues. It’s a District wide thing, we are working through all the villages and towns.

Neil Buttle