Chesterfield Borough Council Leader’s ambitious plans to support residents and businesses from the ‘grassroots’ up

The Labour-controlled council kept a tight hold following the Local Elections in May by securing 28 seats to the Liberal Democrats 12 seats after the region was reduced to 40 council seats across 16 wards as part of changes.

Re-elected leader, Councillor Gilby, told how following the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns the council has been determined to pick things up with support for grassroots organizations and businesses with promising projects and schemes.

She said: “We gave a clear message to the public that our priority was inclusive growth in the council plan. That is about creating a thriving borough. Prosperity for everyone and making sure that gets down to every one and basically no one is left behind.”

The council has outlined an economic Growth Strategy for the next four years with the £340m Waterside Scheme as part of an A61 corridor regeneration with planned homes and business developments, and more work is scheduled along the Rother Valley corridor.

Plans are also underway for the Revitalising the Heart of Chesterfield Project, the Stephenson Memorial Hall renovation, the HS2 Master Plan, and creating better tourism links with the Peak District.

Work is also being done with Derbyshire County Council for Chesterfield and Staveley’s regeneration by redeveloping land and putting in a new route with the potential for £2bn of growth featuring the £25.2m Staveley Town Deal delivering projects with new homes, as well as the Chesterfield and Staveley Regeneration Route and Staveley Corridor plans.

As part of the Staveley Town Deal, £3.7m has also been allocated for a new rail training facility called The Derbyshire Rail Industry Innovation Vehicle Centre, at Barrowhill, which will provide opportunities for people including those from schools. universities and post-graduates.

The council has also joined forces with other local authorities including Derbyshire County Council to be part of the Vision Derbyshire business support scheme.

Cllr Gilby – the council’s first woman leader – said: “We were very concerned that we needed to come out of the pandemic ready to go. There were really frightening announcements that came out of the pandemic like Rolls Royce announcing redundancies and there were people coming out of this losing jobs, so we decided what we needed was a business start-up scheme that targeted people who would probably be made redundant.

“There was also a lot of interest because something like a pandemic makes people review their life opportunities. There might be people not working and wanting to get back into work and some think they are sick-and-tired of the rat race and want to do something different, and we have had a tremendous success across the county getting businesses to sign-up to this scheme.”

The council is also focussing on its Town Centre Masterplan to keep pace with new goals and developments not least the existing success of the Northern Gateway off the Donut Roundabout, in the town centre.

Cllr Gilby said: “The Town Centre Masterplan to revitalise the heart of Chesterfield is an on-going project and we have worked very closely with the market traders and retailers in the centre of Chesterfield and we are looking to make our town centre fit for the 21st century. Town centres are changing and I think our town centre has already made something in the way of a shift.”

She added there are plans for more leisure businesses and to make more public spaces in the town centre where people want to visit and stay.

Cllr Gilby cited the success of the popular Queen’s Park Leisure Centre and forthcoming Chesterfield town centre events such as the Peddler Market, at New Square, between June 23 and June 24, and the Medieval Market on July 25.

She also feels the council’s investment in the Northern Gateway Centre and Jomast Developments’ transformation of the former Co-op, on Elder Way, into a Premier Inn hotel has made it possible for smaller independent businesses to open and the developments are encouraging more Peak District tourists to stay in the town.

Cllr Gilby, who represents Brimington South, said: “We started building the enterprise centre and showed we were coming out of the pandemic with hope and people knew something was going to happen and that was opened in July, last year.”

During the pandemic the council also worked closely with those in the voluntary sector and it has recently awarded £59,965 to 16 local groups via its new Community Grants Funding scheme.

The council has been sourcing community infrastructure funding from the the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund as well as from levies paid on large developments and it is planning a £1.32m parks investment strategy.

Even though the council was reported to have a debt – or a net borrowing figure – of £116m, according to its Treasury Management Annual Report for 2021/22, Cllr Gilby said much of this can be explained after the local authority bought all its council housing stock from the Government.

She added the council has paid a substantial amount of that money back and it now has 9,000 council homes and there are plans to spend £100m on improving these properties.

The council, which boasts the lowest council tax in the county, also aims to achieve the highest possible numbers of social housing properties with its planning development consents to help provide further homes.

Cllr Gilby said that investments like the Northern Gateway and the opening of One Waterside Place building with six floors of office space and a ground floor retail unit have already drawn investment into the town.

She added: “When people say we have got a lot of borrowing they are not telling you the full story because that borrowing is creating things in Chesterfield and creating more jobs and bringing in income.”

The council also says its plans for the sale and redevelopment of Tapton House are moving forward to secure the property’s future with historic features including an area honouring the entrepreneurial industrialists linked to the property including the Markham family and George Stephenson.

Cllr Gilby said that she wants to see the Stephenson Memorial Hall reopened with a fantastic museum creating a link to the historic Market Hall, and High Street and the Crooked Spire grounds right down to the railway station so when people come to Chesterfield there will be a ‘wow’ factor.

She added: “My hopes for Chesterfield for the next four years are that we will continue to grow as a place to live, work and do business. In both Chesterfield and Staveley we have really ambitious plans which will take prosperity down to the grassroots.”

The council’s overall plans have also been set around a Climate Change Strategy with hopes to become a carbon neutral organisation by 2030 and for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2050.