Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fritchley, McGregor, Raspin, Renshaw, Smith and Wilson.

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.

The Monitoring Officer reminded Council that any Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on or which might affect budget calculations and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applied to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements was a criminal offence under Section 106 of the Local Government and Finance Act 1992.

The Monitoring Officer added that any Members who were tenants of a Council property should declare an interest for any budget setting item, but these Members had an automatic dispensation to remain in the room to speak and vote on the items in question.

The Monitoring Officer also reminded Members that voting on budget and Council Tax setting items would be done by recorded vote as required by the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014.

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

The Chair welcomed Noah Smith, Thomas Deltorro, Mandy Smith and Paul Hawkins to the meeting.  It was reported that both Noah and Thomas had been actively fund raising for Ashgate Hospice and they had been invited along with Paul Hawkins from Ashgate Hospice to be presented with a cheque for the sum of £653.42 raised at Bolsover District Council at Christmas.  

Councillor Peake stated that it was a pleasure to see young people raising money for such a worthy cause.

To approve the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 3^rd December 2025 as a true record.

Moved by Councillor Haywood and seconded by Councillor Munro

RESOLVED that the minutes of a meeting of Council held on

          3^rd December 2026 be approved as a true and correct record.

To approve the Minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 16th December 2025 as a true record.           

Moved by Councillor Haywood and seconded by Councillor Munro

RESOLVED that the minutes of an Extraordinary meeting of Council held on

          16^th December 2026 be approved as a true and correct record.

Council considered a report presented by the Monitoring Officer proposing an amendment to the Council Procedure Rules to include the use of the Council’s electronic voting system.  The following amendment was proposed:

          14.3 Show of Hands/Electronic Voting

          Unless a recorded vote is demanded (under rule 14.4) the Chair of the Council will take the vote by a show of hands or by way of the electronic voting system, or if there is no dissent by the affirmation of the meeting.

The proposals would not change the rules relating to recorded votes which would continue to be taken by roll-call.

Moved by Councillor Hales and seconded by Councillor Munro

RESOLVED that the changes to the Council Procedure rules as detailed in 2.2

          of the report be approved.

The Chair confirmed that a deputation had been received and invited Mr N Clarke to address Council.

Mr Clarke presented the following deputation to Council:

          “Good morning councillors on behalf of the Deputation I am their spokesperson. We are aware that the Council is currently formulating its budget and will soon also set the level of council tax to be paid for the forthcoming year.  We feel that it is a pertinent time to remind the council that it is our best interests those of the people of this district that should always be at the forefront of the Council’s financial planning.  With Local Government Reform looming we believe that this council should be concentrating solely on what is best for the people of Bolsover namely protecting, improving and safeguarding our assets along with ensuring that the money paid to this authority via our council tax are used for the benefit of the people of Bolsover and not gift wrapped for a newly created authority at which point we will have much less local representation.  We understand that this Council is preparing a budget which will protect its financial position until 2030 by which point it will no longer in fact exist.  It is therefore absolutely impossible to comprehend why the Council is proposing to increase Council Tax rates and charges by the maximum amount Government allows and furthermore why the Council is proposing to increase Council House tenants rents bills by an amount way in excess of inflation when their household budgets are being ever squeezed and there is no comparative increase in the services they receive. 

          Just before Christmas the audited accounts of Dragonfly Development, the Council’s own company which was building fabulous, high quality homes for the people of this District were published on Companies House.  The accounts show that the company made post tax profits of just under £3m in its three years of operation.  We believe that these profits should now be used for the Council’s budget and to offset any increase in the Council Tax charged by BDC therefore keeping to a minimum the financial impact on the council tax payers of this District. 

          Had the Council not taken the decision to disestablish Dragonfly Development which in our opinion was based on deliberately misleading information presented to the council members and public designed to deceive those in attendance in July last year they may have been looking at profits well in excess of the aforementioned £3m that they did achieve money which could have been utilised to benefit the people of Bolsover.  I have a quote her from another resident of Bolsover Mrs Godfrey, a former business woman who herself says, ‘I cannot understand the reasoning for the disestablishment any income that reduces the reliance on the Council Tax must surely be welcomed by the residents of Bolsover District.’  As this authority will cease to exist in just over 2 years due to the upcoming Local Government Reforms it would be sensible to insure  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL70-25/26

The Portfolio Holder for Resources Councillor Clive Moesby presented a report relating to the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2025/26, the proposed budget 2026/27 for the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and the Capital Programme as part of the Council’s MTFP covering the years 2025/26 to 2029/30. 

The report included the following appendices:

·       Appendices 1 and 2 - General Fund;

·       Appendices 3 and 4 - Housing Revenue Account (HRA); and

·       Appendix 5 – Capital Programme.

The financial projections included:

·       2025/26 revised current budget position which took account of changes during the financial year due to end on 31^st March 2026.

·       2026/27 original budget for next financial year starting 1^st April 2026 on which the Council Tax would be based on.

·       2027/28 to 2029/30 – Financial Plan which included the financial projections for the next three financial years.

The report had been considered by Finance and Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee on 22^nd January 2026 and by Executive on 26^th January 2026.

The figures for 2026/27 – 2029/30 had been produced on the basis of the successful transition of Dragonfly staff and services back to the Council by 31^st March 2026.

The Council’s main uncommitted Financial Reserves was the General Fund Working Balance of £2.001m, the uncommitted element of the Transformation Reserve was £0.700m and the NNDR Growth Protection Reserve had a balance of £16.9m. 

The Council’s main uncommitted Financial Reserves for the Housing Revenue Account Working Balance was £2.006m.  In addition to the Working Balance there were further reserves for the HRA used to fund the Council’s HRA capital programme including the Major Repairs Reserve, New Build Reserve, Vehicle Repair and Renewal Reserve and the Development Reserve.

The following comments were made by Members:

·       Councillor Watson stated that whilst she understood the obligation to produce a balanced budget for a number of years her duty was to represent the people who had elected her.  Local Government Reform was being inflicted on councils but they did not have to blindly follow.  She questioned again how the reserves would be used and stated that they would not benefit Bolsover residents.

·       Councillor Tait sought clarity on the large reduction in the NNDR business rates and whether the figures detailed in the report included the payback to Government.

o     The S151 Officer confirmed that the NNDR figures quoted were solely BDC’s share net after payments to Government. 

·       Councillor Stevenson asked how funding could be accessed for South Normanton and neighbouring parishes. 

o     The S151 Officer confirmed that the Capital Programme detailed in Appendix 5 of the report included emerging projects, identified areas of need for housing, emergency works and findings of the Council’s Asset Management Group.

·       Councillor Fletcher congratulated the S151 Officer and Portfolio Holder  for Resources on building up the Council’s reserves and that the Government settlement had been better than expected.  This meant that there would be £16.9m left in the growth reserve and for this reason he would be voting against the recommendations as the public should  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL71-25/26

Council considered a report presented by Councillor Moesby Portfolio Holder for Resources which sought approval for the Authority’s proposed suite of Treasury Strategies for the period 2026/27 to 2029/30 which included:

·       The Treasury Management Strategy which provided the framework for managing the Authority’s cash flows, borrowing and investments for the period. The Prudential indicators aimed at monitoring risk also included at Appendix 1.

·       The Capital Strategy, which was intended to provide a high level, concise overview of how capital expenditure, capital financing and treasury management activity contributed to the provision of the Authority’s services.  This included information relating to minimum revenue provision, capital financing requirements and prudential indicators aimed at monitoring risk in Appendix 2.

·       The Corporate Investment Strategy focused on investments made for service purposes and commercial reasons, rather than those made for treasury management.  Investments covered by this strategy included earning investment income through commercial investments or by supporting local services by lending to or buying shares in, other organisations as shown in Appendix 3.

These provided an approved framework within which the officers undertake the day-to-day capital and treasury activities.

Moved by Councillor Moesby and seconded by Councillor Hiney-Saunders

RESOLVED (1) that Council approved the Treasury Management Strategy at

          Appendix 1 in particular:

        (a) The Borrowing Strategy.

        (b) The Treasury Management Investment Strategy.

        (c) The use of the external treasury management advisors

        Counterparty Weekly List, or similar, to determine the latest assessment of the counterparties that met the Authority’s Criteria before any investment was undertaken.

        (d) The Prudential Indicators.

          (2) that the Capital Strategy as set out in Appendix 2 be approved, in particular:

                    (a) The Capital Financing Requirement.

                    (b) The Minimum Revenue Provision Statement for 2026/27.

                    (c) The Prudential Indicators for 2026/27 detailed in the Capital

                    Strategy, in particular:

                              Authorised Borrowing Limit          £155.738m

                              Operational Boundary                  £150.738m

                              Capital Financing Requirement    £145.738m

          (3) The Corporate Investment Strategy as set out in Appendix 3

          be approved.

Councillor Davis returned to the meeting at 11.30 am.

Prior to consideration of this item Councillor Yates moved and Councillor Hales seconded the motion to defer this report to a future meeting

RESOLVED that the report be deferred.

Council considered a presentation which included updates on the progress of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).  Councillor Ritchie Portfolio Holder for Devolution introduced the item and the presentation was delivered jointly by the Chief Executive and the Interim Director of Planning, Devolution & Corporate Policy.  In summary, the information provided included:

·       The Statutory consultation on the proposals had commenced and would run for 7 weeks and hosted online by Citizen Space. 

·       The Statutory Consultees included:

o   Bolsover District Council amongst the other Derbyshire authorities as well as neighbouring authorities.

o   Public/health and education bodies.

o   Umbrella business and community/voluntary sector bodies.

o   Government departments and trade unions etc.

·       Whilst it was not a public consultation any input from residents and businesses would be welcomed by Government.

The next steps included:

Ongoing weekly meetings by the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Group and the Co-ordination Group to reflect on lessons learned and continuing the project planning activities.  A report was expected to be presented to the Derbyshire Strategic Leadership Board (SLB) on 24^th February 2026 recommending future governance arrangements and programmes of work to be undertaken.

The CEO’s Away Day took place on 23^rd January 2026 and DCC had appointed a new CEO Neil Crittenden.

The proposed Programme Governance Framework was shared and included the Programme Boards from the Derby & Derbyshire Strategic Leadership Board through to the Enabling Services Workstreams.

The anticipated timeline was:

·       Minister of State LGR Decision between June to August 2026.

·       The Structural Change Order in Autumn 2026.

·       The elections for the Shadow Authority in May 2027.

·       Vesting day for the new Unitary Authority May 2028.

During discussion the following comments and responses to questions were made:

·       Councillor Watson asked why the Council was not taking a stand and saying no to LGR as it wasn’t right for the District. 

·       Councillor Yates confirmed that it was likely LGR would happen and that Bolsover had to have representatives sat at the table to have their say.

·       It was confirmed that Council would be provided an update once the Programme Director had been appointed and their areas of work.

·       In response to a question relating to the impact on staff of LGR it was stated that once the Joint Committee had been established for the new Shadow Authority then a Chief Executive and Statutory Officers would be recruited.  Then the HR streams would be required to establish the number of posts needed for the new Unitary Authority.  The initial posts affected would be CEO’s and Statutory Officers and it was likely that staffing below this would initially remain unchanged to ensure no gaps in the provision of statutory services when the new authority came into existence in May 2028.

The Chair confirmed that this was the end of the public part of the Council meeting.

To move:- 

That the public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion of the following items of business to avoid the disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006). 

Moved by Councillor Haywood and seconded by Councillor Hales

RESOLVED that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the stated Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and it was not in the public interest for that to be revealed.

Council considered a report presented by the Monitoring Officer which informed of the temporary dispensation granted by the Monitoring Officer for a Member’s non-attendance.

Moved by Councillor Hales and seconded by Councillor Ritchie

RESOLVED that the granting of the temporary dispensation granted by the           Monitoring Officer be noted.