Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lucy King, Emma Stevenson and Vicky Wapplington.

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 Ordinary Council Meeting held on 8^th October 2025 as a true record.

To approve the Minutes of the Extraordinary Council Meeting held on 5^th November 2025 as a true record.

Moved by Councillor Haywood and seconded by Councillor McGregor

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 8^th October 2024 be approved as a true and correct record.

Moved by Councillor Haywood and seconded by Councillor Munro

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 5^th November 2025 be approved as a true and correct record.

To receive any announcements that the Chair of the Council may desire to lay before the meeting.

There were no announcements made by the Chair to Council.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, to consider motions on notice from Members.  The following motion(s) were received:

(a)  Councillor Bennett – Hygiene Ratings

(b)  Councillor Yates – Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s) – Community Impact and Evidence Gathering

(c)   Councillor Hiney-Saunders – Support National Gambling Reform

(d)  Councillor Peake – Change the Council Constitution to have one Scrutiny Committee

(e)  Councillor Watson – Definition of the role of Leader of the Opposition

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

a)       The following motion was submitted for consideration by Councillor Bennett:

“Bolsover District Council calls on the government to make the display of food hygiene ratings mandatory for establishments preparing and selling food in England, as it is in Wales and Northern Ireland, and will write to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs lobbying for the necessary legislative changes to be made. The ratings must be displayed prominently at all public entrances to the establishment and prominently on the entry to every online portal.

In England establishments with good ratings tend to display them, whilst many of those with lower ratings don’t do so. In England only 69% of business display their food hygiene ratings sticker. In addition, it was reported by the BBC in October last year that some businesses in England are displaying inaccurate food hygiene ratings. Without an enforcement function in relation to food hygiene display this is not being policed.

We agree with the Chartered Institute of Environment Health who have also called for the display of hygiene ratings to be mandatory. In England more than four in five businesses surveyed were happy to support mandatory display of hygiene ratings.*

Food Hygiene Rating Schemes provide consumers with information about the hygiene standards at food establishments, enabling them to make informed choices about where they eat and purchase food. We believe the public mandatory display of food hygiene ratings supports this, is beneficial to public health and will likely drive up the quality of food for the public.

The Food Standards Hygiene team at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have said that food hygiene ratings are published and can be checked on the FSA’s website. However, that presupposes that the customer has access to the internet. Many senior citizens, who are likely to be most vulnerable from a health perspective, are least likely to have access to the internet and so wouldn’t even have the ability to check hygiene ratings. In any case very few people will check hygiene ratings prior to visiting the establishment, so the display of hygiene ratings at the entrance is crucial for informing customer behaviour.

This is an issue of both consumer information and public health.”

Moved by Councillor Bennett and seconded by Councillor Hiney-Saunders and on being put to the vote the motion was carried.

RESOLVED that the Council supported the motion and call on the

government to make the display of food hygiene ratings mandatory for establishments preparing and selling food in England, as it is in Wales and Northern Ireland, and will write to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs lobbying for the necessary legislative changes to be made. The ratings must be displayed prominently at all public entrances to the establishment and prominently on the entry to every online portal.

b)       The following motion was  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL51-25/26

Council considered a report presented by the Monitoring Officer relating to the request received from the Independent Group that their nomination to the Housing Liaison Board be changed with Councillor Peake replacing Councillor Tait.

Appendix 1 to the report detailed the membership of the Council’s Committees and Advisory Groups including the change requested by the Independent Group.

Moved by Councillor Hales and seconded by Councillor Smith and

RESOLVED that Councillor Peake be appointed to the Housing Liaison Board

          in place of Councillor Tait.

Councillor Moesby Portfolio Holder for Resources moved for the report to be withdrawn following receipt of new information and confirmed that  a revised report would be submitted to a future meeting of Council.

Moved by Councillor Moesby and seconded by Councillor Ritchie RESOLVED that the report be withdrawn.

Council considered a report presented by Councillor Munro Portfolio Holder for Growth recommending the adoption of the Successful Healthy Places Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) as a material consideration in planning decisions. 

The responses to a public consultation on the Draft Successful Healthy Places SPD were considered by Planning Committee on 29^th October 2025 and resulted in a number of revisions being approved.  The Planning Committee recommended that Council adopt the Successful Healthy Places Supplementary Planning Document as a material consideration in planning decisions.

Moved by Councillor Munro and seconded by Councillor Ritchie

RESOLVED that the Successful Healthy Places Supplementary Planning

Document at Appendix 1 be approved as a material consideration in planning decisions.

Council considered a report presented by Councillor Smith Portfolio Holder for Housing relating to the purchase of 12 affordable 1 bedroom semi-detached houses from Woodall Homes Limited at Boleappleton Farm.  These properties were part of a S106 planning condition. 

The Council’s Executive on 3^rd November 2025 resolved to purchase the properties and Council approval was sought for the scheme to be added to the capital programme, to be funded by capital receipts.

The purchase price for these properties was £1.26m (excluding fees and Stamp Duty Land Tax) based on the Valuation detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

The Council had an ambition to add 200 new homes to the Council’s housing stock by a mixture of new development through the housing development programme and by appropriate acquisition.  The proposal offered value for money, met local housing need and would increase the Council’s housing stock.

Moved by Councillor Smith and seconded by Councillor Ritchie

RESOLVED that approval be given to add the 12 properties at Boleappleton

Farm for affordable rent within the Housing Revenue Account, to the Capital Programme by utilising the 1-4-1 Right to Buy receipts.

Council considered a report of the Chief Executive presented by the Monitoring Officer relating to the appointment of a Member Champion for Neurodiversity.  The Neurodiversity Policy was approved by Council on 31^st July 2024 and created an environment where neurodiverse employees could thrive and contribute their unique perspectives and access the support and accommodations to fully participate in society.  The aim was to foster a culture of acceptance, understanding and equal opportunities for all members of the community.

Following a request from a Bolsover District Council Member it was proposed to create the Member Champion role and appoint a Member as a Neurodiversity Champion.  The role would work closely with the Council’s Human Resources Team to support the policy and ensure the focus of the policy was maintained.

Expressions of interest to volunteer for the Neurodiversity Champion Role were sought from Members with Councillors R Clarke and Hales confirming their interest prior to the meeting.

It was suggested by Members that both Councillors could share the role as was the case for another of the Member Development Champions.

An amendment to the recommendation was moved by Councillor Fritchley and seconded by Councillor Peake to appoint both Councillors to share the role

RESOLVED to agree the establishment of the Neurodiversity Champion Role

          and that Councillors R Clarke and Hales be appointed to share the role for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

Council considered the latest update relating to Local Government Reorganisation presented jointly by Councillor Ritchie Portfolio Holder for Devolution and the Interim Director of Planning, Devolution and Corporate Policy.

Councillor Ritchie confirmed that agreement had been reached and submissions made by the eight boroughs and districts and Derby City Council agreed on the submission to Government with four different proposals namely:

·       Proposal A - by Amber Valley Borough Council to join the Northern Unitary as a whole authority as led by their public consultation.

·       Proposal - A1 to split Amber Valley Borough Council between the Northern and Southern Unitaries with Belper, Denby and Kilburn remaining in the North.

·       Proposal B - Amber Valley Borough Council joining the Southern Unitary as a whole authority.

·       Proposal B1 - Amber Valley Borough Council being split between the Northern and Southern Unitary Authorities with Belper, Denby and Kilburn in the Southern Unitary.

Stage 3 Statutory Consultations had started and was anticipated to run until the end of December 2025.  Stage 4 was for Ministers to decide on a proposal with or without modification as splitting Amber Valley would require modifications to boundaries.  It was anticipated that a decision would not be made until Summer 2026.  Stage 5 was to make Secondary Legislation for Parliamentary approval namely the Structural Changes Order (SCO).  The SCO will specify arrangements for the first elections for the new Unitaries.  Derby City Council has decided they want 94 councillors not 74 as previously indicated. 

The SCO will identify the elections for the Unitaries, number of councillors and the function of the new Council during the transition and establish suitable governance arrangements which could take six to nine months to go through the parliamentary process.  Councillors can stand for the new Unitary as well as being a councillor in their existing council.  The order will also state whether the existing council would be extended or not and the transition arrangements until the existing councils were abolished. 

Stage 6 was the transition period with existing councils continuing to deliver services whilst preparing for ‘Go live’ day (Vesting Day) when all services, functions, assets and staff would be transferred to the new Unitary. The transition body will be responsible for all arrangements and decisions relating to the new authority to ensure it was safe and legal from Day One.  An implementation plan was required by Government to include Council tax harmonisation plan and the aggregation or disaggregation of services.

Stage 7 the new Unitary goes ‘live’ on vesting day and the process continue.

The Interim Director of Planning, Devolution and Corporate Policy informed Council of the next steps:

·       Stage 3 Statutory Consultation, it was anticipated this would commence in Spring 2026 with stakeholders. 

·       The Derby and Derbyshire Consultation Co-ordination Group met weekly and would be looking at putting together an implementation plan to maintain momentum.  Working Groups would continue and several new groups focussed on specialisms would be established eg People, Finance, Legal, Technology, Assets data, Communication, Governance arrangements, Social Services, Environmental Health,  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL57-25/26

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and closed the meeting.