Agenda item

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8, to allow members of the public to ask questions about the Council’s activities. 

(A) Question submitted by Andrew Joesbury to the Leader of the Council

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.

Question submitted to Leader of the Council, Councillor Steve Fritchley by Andrew Joesbury

Dear Councillors,

Bolsover district has been allocated £15 million from the Government Regeneration Fund.

This is from the 2019 district plan:

South Normanton

6.64 South Normanton is the most southerly of the four towns. It is also one of the poorest performing shopping areas, based on our 2017 Study. Only 1.2% of the whole of the study area’s convenience expenditure takes place in South Normanton; the same as in Bolsover; but only a fifth of the spending that takes place in Clowne.

6.65 At 2.1%, the amount of comparison shopping seems strong. However, this includes the East Midlands Designer Outlet; a major out of town clothing and comparison shopping destination; which is likely to be the major part of this expenditure and is divorced from the town centre by around 1.5 miles, the M1 and the A38 dual carriageway.

6.66 Like Bolsover, the most concerning statistic is that South Normanton only retains around 20% of its immediate catchment zone’s convenience expenditure. This shows that whilst the centre is not playing a role in attracting shoppers from a wider area, it retains very little of the food shopping expenditure from the centre of the town.

6.67 The Regeneration Framework, identifies 3 main village centre projects:

a) Redesign and re-establish Market Place as the heart of the Village – High priority urban design project and delivery to improve pedestrian movement and experience in the village centre, including improved signage and replacement of the Market Place clock

b) New and enhanced connections to greenways – Development of connections to the Blackwell Trail and upgrades along The Common and Alfreton Road to create a 'shared route'

Taken from the Vision Bolsover District 2

The Council’s ambition for town centre development is to support and invest in the 4 town centres to make them more sustainable and thriving places for communities to live and enjoy.

To improve the physical appearance, provide flexible space to create shopping havens, cafe culture, community venues etc.

To work with our partners (parish councils) to develop the 4 town centres and continue to bid for funding.

Funding is normally not available unless the project is designed, planned, costed and had preliminary planning permission from the stakeholders, otherwise known as being ‘shovel ready’.

Before the last election councillors from the south of the district were invited to the meeting of the Growth Committee.

The biggest complaint was that the majority of funding went to the north of the district.

After some debate the committee agreed that South Normanton should be used as a pilot scheme, with help from the council, to become shovel ready to allow for application for funding as soon as it was available.

As proof of the majority of funding going to the north of the district these next points are taken from the In Touch and Bolsover Vision 2.

South Normanton and the south of the district is hardly mentioned.

The mention of South Normanton is that ‘£600k has been invested for new or refurbished play equipment or improvements to the sports pitches in South Normanton, Bolsover, Tibshelf and Pleasley.’

The only thing that I know in South Normanton of is the drainage of the Boundary rugby field, which came out of section 106 funding.

Meanwhile, from the publications 

-£1.5m invested in Go Active in Clowne

-Introduction of 2 growth plans for Shirebrook and Creswell.

-£9.6m for the crematorium in Shirebrook.

-Assisted with the building of the £3m Cresswell Heritage Centre and well being centre.

-£100k from Safer Streets fund towards a new skate park in Bolsover.

-Cresswell Crags discovery trail. 

-Spent £1m on the Tangent extension in Shirebrook.

My questions are ‘How are the councillors and leadership going to make the £15m is allocated fairly?

‘The district plan of 2019 hasn’t made any improvement to South Normanton in 5 years so when is the Bolsover district vision 2 going to improve the town centres?’

‘Why wasn’t the agreed Growth Committee motion of using South Normanton as a pilot scheme acted on?’

As only one question was permitted Andrew Joesbury confirmed that his question to the Leader of the Council was: How are the Councillors and leadership going to make sure the £15m is allocated fairly?

Councillor Steve Fritchley, Leader of the Council, responded firstly with the background to the £15m Regeneration Funding, which had been announced on 22^nd November 2023.  The funding criteria had been sent to the Council on 16^th January 2024, which included that funding could be spent on one or multiple projects within any locality within the Council’s jurisdiction.  The Council had had 11 working days to draw up a programme of works that could be delivered by March 2026.  The Council’s proposal had been submitted on 31^st January 2024.  Mark Fletcher, MP for Bolsover had refused to support part of the programme that was outside Bolsover Town Centre.  Councillor Fritchley stated that he had had a zoom meeting with Mark Fletcher MP, who had said he would not be swayed. Since then, a further meeting had been held with the MP and Jacob Young, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Levelling Up) on 25^th April 2024.  An amended submission was then drafted which removed the Blackwell site and added the purchase of the Co-op.  The MP for Bolsover formally removed their objection by letter on 15^th May and the Council was now waiting for formal approval from the Minister.  Councillor Fritchley added that as far as he was aware the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was happy with the submission. Councillor Fritchley added that there was some funding included for public realm so there could still be work included within South Normanton.

Andrew Joesbury asked a supplementary question.  South Normanton was the gateway to the District and had the highest footfall/biggest attraction of the area (McArthur Glen) and it would be good if some visitors went into South Normanton village, but it needed investment to make it more attractive and to encourage businesses into the empty shops.  Andrew Joesbury stated that things always happened in the north of the District, for example in Bolsover and Shirebrook Market Place.  He added that he wanted the leader to lead and to help parish councils to improve their areas so what would the Leader do to make that happen? 

Councillor Steve Fritchley replied that if/when the Regeneration Funding had been approved, South Normanton would have the opportunity to work with the District Council to get something under the public realm element.