Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Davis, Haywood, Renshaw, and Tite.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

To approve the Minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 9^th July 2025

To approve the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of Council held on 30^th July 2025.

Councillor Stevenson sought an update on the proposal to have a Neurodiversity Member Champion.

Moved by Councillor McGregor and seconded by Councillor Taylor

RESOLVED that the minutes of a meeting of the Extraordinary Council meeting           held on 9^th July 2025 be approved as a true and correct record.

Councillors A Clarke, R Clarke, Gilbody, Peake, Stevenson, Tait, Turner and Watson abstained from voting.

Moved by Councillor McGregor and seconded by Councillor Bennett 

RESOLVED that the minutes of a meeting of Council held on 30^th July 2025 be           approved as a true and correct record.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8, to allow members of the public to ask questions about the Council’s activities.  The following question was received:

a)     Question submitted by Mr N Clarke to the Portfolio Holder for the Environment

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8, Members of the Public were able to ask questions to an Executive Member about the Council’s activities.  The following question was submitted by Mr N Clarke:

(1)  Question submitted by Mr N Clarke to the Portfolio Holder for Environment:

“In 2020 Councillors and Officers of BDC met with representatives of the Woodland Trust to negotiate funding for a tree planting project across the district of Bolsover.

Funding of £250,000 was secured and with additional council funding a plan to plant a million trees over a 15 year period was made. Initial planting took place in 2021.

I understand that according to the Portfolio Holder for the Environment that the tree planting programme no longer exists. He has stated:

          "That there is no district council tree planting programme. We don't actually have a woodland strategy. In the past there was a temporary tree planting programme which was funded by a grant from the Woodland Trust. This grant has now been spent."

I would want to know why was this decision not made public?

I would also like to like to know why has the tree planting programme been discontinued when it is widely known that trees are a vital component in protecting against flooding and soil erosion and as we are experiencing climate change with ever increasing extreme weather events, the planting of trees are a major tool to combat the effects of climate change.

Therefore, my question is “Will the Council make genuine commitment to reintroducing the tree planting programme and provide additional funding to support the protection of the environment in the district of Bolsover?”

Councillor Hiney-Saunders provided the following response:

“Tree planting can be an effective tool in the fight against climate change whilst improving our local environment. However, it’s very important that we weigh up the costs and benefits against our other environmental commitments - like emptying the bins, fighting fly-tipping, maintaining our existing tree coverage etc.

As far as I am aware this council has never passed a resolution to permanently allocate funds to tree planting. The council did however have an ambition of planting up to one million trees. No permanent resources were allocated to turn this ambition into a programme. 

What the council has done - and should be really proud of - is set up a vehicle called the Bolsover Community Woodlands project to spend a grant of £270k from the Woodland Trust received in 2021 to plant over 25,000 trees in the last four years. Trees have been planted in areas such Elmton-with-Creswell, Old Bolsover, Whitwell, Clowne (namely the Queen’s Green Canopy Orchard outside this building at the Arc), South Normanton, Langwith and Shirebrook.

However, at more than £10 a tree it’s going to cost the district over £10 million to deliver an ambition of planting 1 million trees, and which at that rate of progress will take 160 years. I have my doubts that that is the basis of a realistic programme.  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL33-25/26

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, to consider motions on notice from Members.

(a)  Motion from Councillor Tait – to consider changing the constitution regarding political proportionality on Scrutiny Committees

(b)  Motion from Councillor Anne Clarke – the Whistleblowing policy

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Councillors were able to submit Motions on Notice for consideration at meetings of Council.  Two motions were submitted.

a)              Motion submitted by Councillor Tait - to consider changing the constitution regarding political proportionality on Scrutiny Committees

“Our current constitutional arrangements regarding proportionality can be found on page 147 of the constitution under item 4.5.2.

To date, it has been the case that whichever political party is in overall control of the Council, automatically is entitled to have majority representation on all scrutiny committees.

All key decisions are made by the Executive, which again is made up solely of members of the same party. So, if you think about it logically, it is like marking your own homework.

We all know how the party system works; it is not acceptable to vote against the party line, this carries the possibility of having the whip removed. I would argue that these group decisions could be carried through to scrutiny, if the majority of scrutiny committees themselves are made up of the controlling party.

Would it not be better to have a more balanced approach, by having committees made up of members with possible relevant experience or knowledge and broader/opposing opinions, rather than a majority group of likeminded, same thinking members?

The actual legislation regarding this matter is very loosely written and states: “that proportionality rules generally apply, however local authorities can choose to apply these rules for certain scrutiny bodies and local authorities can decide to disapply proportionality rules through a unanimous vote”.

It also states that scrutiny exists to challenge decisions made by the Executive, and surely this would be better achieved when led by opposition members rather than always requiring a majority of members from the controlling party?

Therefore, I put forward a motion for the Council to consider changing the current constitution regarding political proportionality on scrutiny committees, in favour of a more diverse arrangement. I therefore move that this motion is passed to the Standards Committee to be considered and debated.

During discussion the following comments were made:

·       The proportionality of Scrutiny Committees had not previously been raised as a concern by elected members and was not considered to be an issue with Labour group members.  The ‘whip’ had never been used and Scrutiny agenda papers were not discussed in Labour group meetings.

·       It was important that Scrutiny remained independent and some other authorities had opposition members chairing these committees.  Clarity was sought from the Monitoring Officer on the legislation relating to proportionality and political balance requirements for scrutiny committees.  It was suggested this could potentially be explored by the Standards Committee.

·       Due to the impact of political proportionality requirements there was an imbalance with one member of the Independent Group not having a scrutiny seat whilst some within the Labour group sat on more than one scrutiny committee.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the legislation was not clear but the legal default position was that on all committees, including  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL34-25/26

Council considered a report relating to the Political Balance of the Council and Appointments to Committees as presented by the Monitoring Officer.  It was confirmed that one Councillor had changed political parties in August and had moved from the Labour Group to the Independent Group.  The result was that the political make-up of the Council was now Labour – 22 Councillors, Independent Group 11 Councillors, Conservative Group – 2 Councillors, Reform – 1 Councillor and 1 independent (politically unaligned) Councillor.

Appendix 1 highlighted the political balance and proportionality and allocation of seats with the subsequent appointments to committees and advisory bodies detailed in Appendix 2.

Moved by Councillor Hales and seconded by Councillor Munro RESOLVED that (1) the proportionality of committee places as set out in Appendix 1 be agreed; and

          (2) the appointments to Committees and Advisory Groups as set out in Appendix 2 be agreed.

To be presented by the Chair of the Finance and Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee.

Council considered a report presented by Councillor Bennett, Chair of the Finance and Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee which provided an update on the work of the Scrutiny Committees for 2024/25.  The Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The Annual Report provided an overview of the core activity for each of the committees and detailed some of the impact of the work completed during the year.

Moved by Councillor Bennett and seconded by Councillor Wapplington RESOLVED that the Annual Report of the Scrutiny Committees’ activities, in

          accordance with the Council’s Constitution be noted.

Councillors Jeffery and Taylor left prior to the next agenda item.

Council considered a report presented by the Portfolio Holder for Environment relating to the Weekly Food Waste Collection Service. 

The Council had a statutory duty to provide a separate weekly food waste collection from all domestic household from 1^st April 2026.  From this date, food waste had to be collected separately from waste collected in black (residual), burgundy (dry mixed recycling) and green (garden) bins.  The Council’s Waste and Recycling Collection had been updated in readiness for this change and was appended at Appendix A after consultation with Customer Services Scrutiny Committee on 19^th August 2025.

Capital funding amounting to £699,908 had been awarded to the Council by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for the purchase of food waste containers and collection vehicles.  This funding was found to be insufficient to purchase the number of vehicles needed.  At Council on 22^nd May 2024 the Defra funding was accepted but an additional £321,500 of capital funding from the Council’s budget was approved. 

During 2024/25 the Council received notice from Defra of an award of revenue transitional funding of £265,077.21 for the implementation of weekly food waste collection.  It was anticipated that this revenue transitional resource grant would be a one off.

It had been anticipated that a further Government New Burdens funding would be available to meet the future costs of the ongoing weekly food waste collection service. However, recent Defra correspondence received in September 2025 advised that this funding for the food waste collection service would be included in Spending Review 2025 to reflect the Government’s wider commitment in its Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation. The results of the review were not expected to be announced until the week commencing 15^th December 2025. 

Due to the uncertainty surrounding Government funding full details of the new expenditure requirements were not available at this time resulting in a request to Council to fund just 10 permanent full time porter posts (at grade 4) at a cost of £380,383 per annum.  It was likely that this ongoing cost would be met from the Government’s Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme payments.  This would enable the Council to get this service ready to operate by 1^st April 2026. 

Another decision would be needed to recruit further staff to deliver the service as outlined in paragraph 1.7 of the report once the full extent of Government funding was known.  Delegated authority was sought for the Chief Executive in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for the Environment to commence the  recruitment process early in the New Year.

The following additional information was provided in response to questions:

·       Defra had not provided grant funding for the use of bags in the food waste caddies.  Derbyshire County Council as the Waste Disposal Authority had through its procurement of food waste disposal included bag extraction as part of this service.

·       Information guidance leaflets would be included when the bins were delivered and there was an ongoing campaign articles included in the Council’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL37-25/26

Council considered a report of the Director of Governance and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer relating to the appointment of two additional Independent Persons.  The Localism Act 2011 placed a duty on the Council to promote and maintain high standards of conduct for elected and co-opted members which included a requirement for the Council to have a code of conduct and arrangements for dealing with complaints regarding breaches of the Code of Conduct received against District, Town and Parish Councillors.

The role of the Independent Person comprised:

·       Being consulted by the Council before it made a finding as to whether a member had failed to comply with the code of conduct following investigation or decided on action to be taken in respect of that member;

·       To be consulted by the Council in respect of a standards complaint at any other stage; and

·       They may be consulted by a member or a co-opted member of the Council against whom a complaint had been made.

Following a recruitment held in compliance with the 2011 Act five applicants were interviewed and two successful candidates were recommended by the Monitoring Officer for appointment.

Moved by Councillor Hales and seconded by Councillor Moesby

RESOLVEDthat Melvin Kenyon and Alistair Davies be appointed as

          Independent Persons.

Council considered a report of the Portfolio Holder for the Environment relating to the Council’s Statement of Principles under the Gambling Act 2005 seeking Council approval to adopt the revised draft Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Principles and the draft Gambling Act 2005 Local Area Profile.

In 2018, an extensive review was undertaken to ensure that the Council’s Policy was consistent with the Gambling Commission’s Guidance to Licensing Authorities.  The Policy, together with a Local Area Profile (LAP) was published in 2018 and the Act required to Council to republish its policy every three years.

Since the extensive review in 2018, the policy had remained largely unchanged save for minor amendments which aimed to achieve the following:

·       Modify the format of the Policy to ensure it remained cohesive and consistent with that of neighbouring local authorities;

·       Ensure the Policy was consistent with legislation and statutory guidance;

·       Increase the clarity of the Policy;

·       Update local demographics; and

·       Provide clarity on delegations.

Following consideration of the draft Policy and LAP at the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee, a 12 week public consultation took place between 2 June 2025 and 24 August 2025.  The only changes to the policy were to bring the policy up to date with the Gambling Commissions Guidance to Licensing Authorities and to update the local demographics.

Moved by Councillor Hiney-Saunders and seconded by Councillor Dooley

RESOLVED (1) that the recommendation from the Licensing and Gambling Act           Committee that the final draft Gambling Act 2005: Statement of           Principles and Local Area Profile be approved for adoption with effect           from 23 February 2026; and

(2) that the Joint Assistant Director – Environmental Health now follow the formal process to adopt the final draft Gambling Act 2005: Statement of Principles and Local Area Profile.

The Chief Executive updated Council and outlined the activities and decisions that would be needed over the next two months.  Work was ongoing at pace across the whole county with many meetings with Leaders, Chief Executives and a large number of staff working on the various workstreams.  The proposals would be formed around two Unitary Authorities, one in the North and one in the South.  However, agreement had not been reached as to where the boundary between North and South would be drawn with separate options still under discussion.

If an agreement could not be reached on the boundary before the submission date then it was proposed that a single proposal would be submitted highlighting different options for where the boundary.

It was proposed that a single report would be submitted by all the District and Borough Councils on 24^th October 2025 for consideration at their Council and Executive meetings.  Two member briefings for Bolsover councillors were proposed for 29^th October 2025, one via Teams and another in person event starting at 4pm.  The report and appendices will also be considered at Extraordinary Council on 5^th November 2025.

Advice has been received from Government and Counsel confirming this was an Executive decision.  An Extraordinary Executive had been arranged to take place at the rising of Extraordinary Council on 5^th November 2025 to formally take the decision on the proposal.

Government has advised that they would be reviewing the submissions and likely to respond before the Summer recess in 2026.  This time will be used to review the implementation arrangements and activities needed to prepare for the elections of the Shadow Unitary Authority in 2027.

Following an introduction by the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, Health & Wellbeing, the Community Arts Development Officer presented the following information to members:

The draft Bolsover District Community Arts Strategy 2026-20230 comprised the following five themes:

·       The Arts for Everyone Strategy – this outlined the projects and activities supported by Bolsover District Council with different community groups and Parish Councils etc.

·       The Partnerships – including internal Council departments and a wide range of networks across the District including Culture in Place and Arts Derbyshire (nationally recognised charity).

·       To be inclusive – responding with agility and be open to change and be flexible.  Worked on over 100 projects whilst working at Bolsover.

·       Policy and Strategy work – recognising the value and advocating the relevance of art both regionally and nationally.  Including membership and partnership working with a variety of organisations.

·       Arts Resources – increasing the support in and out of the arts  across the board including supporting local festivals, summer festivals and community film working etc.

The Strategy had been shared with partners, officers and peer group to review and gather case studies including Junction Arts, Platform 31 and the Doe Lea Centre.  Public consultation It was anticipated that public consultation on the Strategy would commence in November.

Bolsover District Cultural Corridor

The Bolsover District Cultural Corridor ran from Sept 2023 to April 2025 and was designed and primarily delivered to promote community cohesion and benefit addressing community need to share and align arts work.

The results were:

·       Number of events/participatory programmes – 14 from 12 (117% of target).

·       Number of volunteering opportunities – 85 from 24 (354% of target).

·       Number of people reached – 2563 from 300 (854% of target).

·       Increased footfall – 92% from 60% (153% of target).

·       Increased visitor numbers – 307 from 100 (307% of target).

·       Number of community led projects/programmes 10 from 6 (167% of target).

 The next steps were:

·       Funding application to the Arts Council in early 2026.

·       Grass roots and locally led work.

·       334 volunteer hours recorded – work was ongoing to keep people involved.

·       It was possible that there could be other locations across the district and longer-term work was being reviewed to build the initiators in communities to assure success across the district.

Be Creative Youth Arts and Technology Programme

·       The Be Creative Youth Arts and Technology Programme aimed to complement and widen the existing arts provision for young people (targeted at the 11-19 age group) in the district to deliver an agile, non-location based mobile resource that was targeted into areas of need in the district to provide specific, co-designed youth arts programmes initiated from a menu of activities.

·       This included graphic and print design, textiles, music production, projection technology and film and media.

·       To ensure the longevity/legacy of creative work and engagement through digital means this project was delivered and supported the piloting, prototyping and market-testing of digital creative ideas for and with young people.

The outputs and outcomes of this project included:

·       Number of organisations receiving non-financial support 9 from  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL41-25/26

At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Bennett, Armed Forces Champion informed Council of the RBL Casework Guide for Councillors he had tabled.  This provided guidance on dealing with casework relating to armed forces serving individuals, veterans and their families.  He confirmed that armed forces veterans were disproportionally affected by mental health issues, physical disabilities, drug abuse, homelessness and criminality.  There were lots of different agencies who could support and assist councillors when dealing with casework.  He reminded Councillors to  ask if individuals seeking support were former armed forces as this could apply to a range of individuals who had served and not just older people.

The Chair closed the meeting.