Community News 2025 02 24

Help shape Derbyshire's future
We've opened an online poll about plans to create one council for Derbyshire, instead of the current nine.

Derbyshire (excluding Derby) has a two-tier system – one county council and eight district or borough councils.

The Government announced the biggest shake up of local councils in a generation, requiring all areas to move to a single-tier unitary council system – meaning just one council delivering all services. Parish and town councils aren't affected by the Government's plans.

This decision will shape the future of local services for decades and Derbyshire has until 21 March 2025 to put forward a proposal that best serves all communities.

Read Council Leader Barry Lewis's statement on local government reorganisation and have your say in our simple poll. It'll only take you a minute.

The poll closes on 9 March 2025.

New £5m home for children
Work has started at our new £5 million home for children with significant disabilities and complex learning needs.

Our purpose-built home will offer tailored support and create a nurturing environment for children and their families, supporting our commitment to improve services for children with special needs and disabilities (SEND).

Built on the Ashgate Croft School campus in Chesterfield, the home will provide essential short-break and long-term care for children and young people.

Our funded project has been designed by our design consultant partner Concertus and is being built by construction partner Stepnell. It is due to open in November.

Creating our community forest

There's still time to sign up for an online event to find out more about our Heartwood Community Forest Project and how you can get free grants to plant trees in eastern and southern Derbyshire.

The Introduction to Heartwood Community Forest online event is on Tuesday 25 February from 6pm-7pm.

Landowners, farmers and communities are encouraged to join the meeting to find out more about the grants and support on offer as part of the community forest programme, which aims to bring nature closer to people, make communities, farms and businesses more attractive, increase nature biodiversity and tackle climate change.

Share your thoughts about nature

If you'd like to help nature thrive and survive in Derby and Derbyshire why not come along to one of our interactive pop-up events featuring 'shed' pods designed to spark curiosity and conversations about nature.

We're working with the University of Derby to gather the views of local people about supporting nature and the environment as part of Derbyshire's Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

If you can't make the in-person events listed below which feature the interactive shed pods, why not attend one of two online sessions being held on Tuesday, February 25 from 1-2pm and 6-7pm. Book your place here

The interactive events are from 10am to 4pm at:

Derby Arboretum Park on Saturday 1 March
Glossop, Manor Park on Monday 10 March
Swadlincote, Sharpe's Pottery Museum on Wednesday 12 March.
You can also take part in an online consultation about our draft local nature recovery strategy. It's open until Thursday 20 March.

Drive safer for longer
Are you aged 50 or older and want to update your driving knowledge?

We're offering two more of our popular 'driving safer for longer' information sessions to Derbyshire residents aged 50 years and older.

The session aims to support residents to continue driving for as long as they choose, exploring potential difficulties which may affect driving ability along with possible solutions.

Two online sessions are booking now:

Wednesday 5 March 2025 10am-11.30am
Thursday 24 April 2025 4.30pm-6pm.
Both 90-minute courses will be on Microsoft Teams and cost £4 to attend.

Loscoe recycling centre
Do you use our household waste recycling centre at Loscoe, near Heanor? If so, you may want to use one of our other eight recycling centres during forthcoming work at Loscoe.

There will potentially be delays at the Loscoe site for up to six weeks from today (Monday 24 February) while essential maintenance work is carried out.

The site will remain as fully operational as is practical and safe, but you can expect longer queues and some delays for the duration of the work. There'll also be occasional brief closures of the site. These will allow for the emptying of the temporary skips that will be used to keep as much of the service going as possible.

While the work is underway at Loscoe, asbestos and plasterboard can't be accepted.

Please use other sites, like Ilkeston, if possible.

Free school meals

Could you be eligible for free school meals?

Lots of Derbyshire families qualify for free school meals but haven't signed up yet.

If you receive certain benefits your child could be eligible to receive them.

It not only provides children with a free, nutritious meal but it also means their school can access funding to support their education.

Even if your child receives the universal free lunch in reception, Year 1 and 2, it's still worth checking if they could continue to receive them as they get older.

Future shape of care services

Proposals for the future of our remaining in-house care homes and for closer working with health partners have been agreed by our Cabinet following two public consultations.

Cabinet agreed recommendations designed to support our intention to create an effective and sustainable care service. The recommendations agreed included:

We cease to operate long-term residential and respite care at The Staveley Centre and Thomas Fields, enabling us to repurpose them to focus on community support beds only, known as hospital discharge beds.
To offer the Ada Belfield Centre for transfer on the open market as a going concern for a period of up to eight weeks. The library would not be affected.
Cabinet made its decision following feedback given during the consultations, including from NHS partners.