Derbyshire councillor calls for meeting after opponents raise bankruptcy fears

Liberal Democrats and Staveley Matters councillors fear Staveley Town Council is heading towards another financial crisis with a ‘spend, spend, spend’ strategy based on its budget plan for the 2026-2027 financial year and its on-going longer term Five-Year Financial Plan.

But Community Independent Cllr Paul Mann, who has previously dismissed the concerns as ‘misleading’ and ‘scaremongering’, is now calling for an Extraordinary Meeting for the matter to be discussed and clarified after the Community Independents and Labour voted through the budget plans.

Cllr Mann said: “We tried to bring this up at the last [council] meeting but were denied the opportunity to discuss this.

“The Lib Dems and their coalition allies did not take up the chance or seemed very reluctant to take up the chance to discuss their allegations in depth and provide facts about their allegations in front of the public only the Community Independents were willing to discuss their concerns on the financial matters of Staveley Town Council so I do hope the Lib Dems will now support us in calling an Extraordinary meeting in public session on this issue.”

Cllr Mann previously arranged for the Lib Democrats’ financial concerns at the council, which has no single party in overall control, to be placed on its March 24 meeting agenda and the Liberal Democrats have strongly expressed a willingness to discuss the matter despite Cllr Mann’s claims to the contrary.

Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Stephen Hartley, said he told the meeting he had a copy of the budget with details of the council’s relevant finances showing where every single quote about the council’s finances had come from but Cllr Mann said the council chairperson had not allowed for the finances to be discussed at that particular meeting.

Cllr Hartley has argued concerns about increasing staff and staffing costs, a 3.2per cent council tax precept increase, and the need to pay staff, debts and to cover losses on running its Staveley Hall, Speedwell Rooms and a cafe are based not on ‘claims’ but on figures in the council’s February budget and its ongoing five-year plan.

He said: “The Liberal Democrats did not ‘claim’ that the council had more than doubled its staff costs from £174,019 last year to £381,798 this year. That figure is stated in the February Budget papers in the staffing costs section.

“The Liberal Democrats did not ‘claim’ that the Speedwell Rooms and Staveley Hall run at a loss, that is shown in February Budget papers. Yet it doesn’t even include the massive staff costs that should be allocated to the running of those two buildings.

“The Liberal Democrats did not ‘claim’ that by 2030-31 the council would be overdrawn by £261,321 at the bank and in deficit in its reserves by £311,321. Those figures are in the Five-Year Financial Plan that Cllr Mann’s Independents and their Labour colleagues voted through in February.”

Staveley Town Council previously avoided bankruptcy after Chesterfield Borough Council agreed to loan the authority £400,000 in February, 2023, and an independent Improvement Board criticised the town council’s financial management between 2011 and 2022 in a report which stated the council’s financial situation had been caused by events which were not just faced by one particular political group’s administration.

The council followed recommendations outlined by a critical Improvement Board report after it identified in November, 2023, alarming financial shortfalls and the report also noted how the council had since introduced a new financial system, had reduced expenditure to pay off debt and had introduced a number of money-saving measures.

But Staveley Town Council Liberal Democrats say the council’s Labour and Community Independent councillors have since voted to increase staff and staffing costs, impose a 3.2per cent council tax precept increase, and that money is being used to pay staff and debts and to cover losses on running its Staveley Hall, Speedwell Rooms and a cafe.

Liberal Democrat councillors, including Stephen Hartley, stated in a circulated leaflet that Labour and Independent councillors had voted to ‘spend,spend, spend’ as part of the council’s current budget 2026-27 plans and that it would face a worse financial situation by 2030 than in 2022-23.

However, Cllr Mann stated that staffing which was originally stripped back to address debts and loans is now being increased and budgeted for with the council’s recovery and any modest council tax increase to support community events is in line with a forward plan and inflation.

He argued the council is financially stable with hundreds of thousands of pounds in reserves and there are also plans to support the Speedwell Rooms with Community Infrastructure Levy funding and match-funding and to put Staveley Hall into a cost-effective trust.

Cllr Mann claims it would be a bad idea to sell the Speedwell Rooms because a large amount of any sale proceeds would go to Chesterfield Borough Council as part of an existing agreement.

He has dubbed the Liberal Democrats the party of ‘doom and gloom’ claiming they have repeatedly voted against plans to contribute funding to various community schemes.

Cllr Mann said there is roughly just short of £300,000 in the council’s reserves and he claims everything the Lib Dems say is going to bankrupt the council is actually budgeted for.

But Cllr Hartley has stated the town council will not finish repaying its £400,000 loan to the borough council until 2028 and it still owes hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Government which was borrowed before 2019.

The Lib Dems highlighted an increase in staffing costs from £174,019 to £381,798 and that a new tax increase means £589,475 is being taken out of Staveley residents’ pockets while arguing that money is being eaten up by paying staff and debts, and covering losses on the running of Staveley Hall and the Speedwell Rooms.

They have argued the council should not reopen a loss-making council-run cafe, it should employ less staff, and not double the staff at two loss-making buildings, Staveley Hall and Speedwell Rooms, and it should continue to review its operations instead of spending so much money.

Cllr Hartley added: “That the town council would in effect be bankrupt again is a result of the massive increase in staff costs and of increased spending plans that are based upon taking money out of reserves until there is nothing left. An exact repeat of what Labour councillors did up to 2019, and Community Independent councillors did between 2019-2022.

“That is also the exact opposite of what the Enquiry Board recommended the council should do after the 2022 bankruptcy. All councillors voted unanimously to accept the enquiry’s findings and recommendations.

“But in the three years since then, the Labour [and] Community Independent councillors just keep voting for unsustainable spending and increased staff.

“It is not scaremongering to point out exactly what Labour and Community Independent councillors voted through in February. It is pointing out the facts.”

Liberal Democrat and Staveley Matters councillors say they both proposed a zero per cent council tax increase but the Labour and Community Independent councillors voted through a 3.2per cent council tax precept increase.

Staveley Matters Cllr Mick Bagshaw fears the Community Independents’ spending choices could see the council going bankrupt ahead of an anticipated, feared period of five years.

He argued the Community Independents did not allow a debate or a specific vote over Staveley Matters’ proposed zero per cent council tax increase which he claims could have been achieved with better management of public money instead of going on a ‘spending spree’.

A council spokesperson said if it does nothing it will face bankruptcy and if it wants to move into the future it needs to keep developing services and staffing including plans for the Speedwell Rooms building which is in demand for bookings.

The spokesperson added that if the council was to get rid of community facilities like Staveley Hall and the Speedwell Rooms, which are used to support health and wellbeing, the council would never get them back.

Liberal Democrats and Staveley Matters have also criticised Cllr Mann’s recent call for Chesterfield Borough Council to transfer its assets based in Staveley to the town council ahead of Local Government Reorganisation changes because of the town council’s financial record.

Staveley Town Council has set a total spending budget of £1,134,028.80 for the 2026-27 financial year to be funded through the precept, income generated from council services and facilities, grants, and the planned use of reserves including CIL funds.

The town authority’s council tax precept contributes £589,448 towards this overall budget alongside further income from other sources which help to support services and facilities.

Staveley Town Council provides a range of services and facilities that support the community including building management, community engagement, governance and resources, loan repayments and the public realm including allotments, benches and hanging baskets.

The council has said it will continue to manage its finances carefully throughout the year while working to maximise income from its facilities and external funding opportunities.

Following the May 2023 elections, Staveley Town Council has no single party in overall control with a closely split council between largely Labour, Community Independents and Liberal Democrats alongside a smaller number of Staveley Matters councillors.

Labour Staveley Town Cllr Barry Dyke has been invited to comment on the Liberal Democrats and Staveley Matters’ concerns for the council’s finances but he has so far not responded.