Community News 2025 03 31

Derbyshire Makes takes off
It's here! The first ever Derbyshire Makes Festival launched on Friday, with lots of FREE creative events across the county for five weeks.

From pottery and embroidery to doodles and painting, there's something for everyone.

Come and see us in Heanor (5-6 April), Cromford (12-13 April), Glossop (15-16 April), Bolsover (19-20 April) and Swadlincote (26-27 April)

Keep up to date with what's happening – follow Derbyshire Makes on Facebook or Insta or check out the website.

New operators for seven bus routes
Seven bus services that we support are now being run by different operators.

We put the services out to tender following poor performance by the previous operator, Hulleys of Baslow.

The new operators are:

The 110 and 111 – to be run by Ashbourne Community Transport.
172,173,178 – to be run by Andrew's of Tideswell.
63 – to be run by Stagecoach Yorkshire.
257 – to be run by Andrew's of Tideswell.
All seven services started on Wednesday 26 March, and the timetables remain the same.

Hulleys announced last week that they were to cease trading with effect from Wednesday 26 March. They also ran a number of commercial services. We don't have a formal role in finding new operators for these services as they are commercially operated.

Disposable vapes ban
We're alerting businesses that single-use vapes, also known as disposable vapes, will be banned from Sunday 1 June.

It will be illegal for businesses to sell or supply, offer to sell or supply, or have in their possession for sale or supply all single-use or 'disposable' vapes. This applies to sales online and in shops and all vapes, whether or not they contain nicotine.

Single-use vapes are an inefficient use of critical resources and are often discarded as litter or thrown into non-recyclable waste.

Get around for £3
You can rely on single bus journeys across Derbyshire being capped at just £3 throughout 2025, saving you money every time you travel.

The £3 cap gives you peace of mind with a price you can depend on. So, whether you're off to the shops, to work, to see friends and family or for a weekend away, you'll pay no more than £3 per journey.

Help to register for recycling
You probably know that we're introducing a 'residents-only' registration system to reduce the amount of waste being brought to our recycling centres from outside the county.

To help people register, some of our libraries are hosting drop-in support sessions from 9.45am to 1pm. Call in if you'd like help to register your vehicle.

Dronfield Library. Tuesday 1 April.
Eckington Library. Thursday 3 April.
Matlock Library. Monday 7 April.
Ilkeston Library. Wednesday 16 April.
We've already held sessions in Bakewell, Ashbourne and Swadlincote.

You can also call 01629 533190 for help.

New recycling rules for business
If you run a business, did you know new rules about recycling are about to come into effect?

From today (Monday 31 March 2025) businesses will need to separate the following groups of recyclable materials, ensuring that they are kept separate:

glass, metal and plastic
cardboard and paper
food waste as a dedicated collection.

The new guidelines apply to all businesses, healthcare establishments and academic institutions but small businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees are temporarily exempt until the 31 March 2027.

ULibrary discontinued
If you use the e-service ULibrary to borrow e-books and e-audiobooks we're encouraging you to switch to an alternative lending service before the end of this month as it will no longer be available.

Our decision to discontinue the use of ULibrary from Tuesday 1 April has been based upon cost-effectiveness due to the very small number of people using it, and to simplify access to our library service e-lending resources.

Customers can switch to the Borrowbox service and / or Libby app which provide similar resources and are already used by thousands of Derbyshire library customers.

Visit your local library if you need help making the switch or email ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk.