Sheffield ski village travellers at council eviction hearing

New Age travellers have lived near Sheffield Ski Village for over 10 years

A group of New Age travellers has been taken to a court by a council wanting to redevelop land they live on.

Twenty-nine people living below the former Sheffield Ski Village, on Vale Road, were issued with an eviction notice in January.

Their eviction hearing started at Sheffield Civil Court on Monday.

Sheffield Ski Village opened in the 1990s but has been derelict since a fire in 2012. The travellers have lived there for more than 10 years.

The travellers were issued with an eviction notice in January

Sheffield City Council wants to evict the group of around 35 travellers living in caravans on Wallace Road and Pickering Road, and re-open the area as an extreme sports site.

The authority plans a £22.5m "leisure tourism destination" for the 48-acre (19.4-hectare) site at Parkwood Springs, including an outdoor mountain bike track, indoor climbing wall, snow centre, restaurants and hotels.

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Although Extreme was announced as lead developer in November 2017, James Richards of Sheffield City Council told court the authority had not yet submitted full plans, and this had now been delayed for another four months.

His Hon Judge Graham Robinson was told the council had not yet found a suitable alternative travellers' site either.

Stephen Cottle, representing the group, said: "There is no recognition of policy to meet [the travellers'] accommodation needs."

Sheffield Council hopes for new ski slopes, a mountain bike track and boating lake at the new "pay and play" leisure site

Mr Cottle said the travellers "do accept the authority's ownership of the land" but wanted to stay and redevelop the lowest part of the land.

The travellers have said they can co-exist alongside the new development, as they did before the Ski Village closed, and would carry out building and landscaping themselves at no cost to the council.

Wayne Atkinson, a music teacher who has lived on the site for five years, said: "We want an ecologically-sustainable travellers' site for future travellers as well as us.

"I'm proud to be a citizen of Sheffield and to contribute to society. We're not separate from the community, we're part of the community.

He said the travellers were "in favour" of the development and were just asking for a "small part of it".

The hearing is due to last until Wednesday.