Watchdog fears Bolsover District Council’s £15m regeneration scheme could go ‘belly up’

During the council’s Local Growth Scrutiny Committee meeting, Chairperson Tom Munro suggested the Government funding was in jeopardy and he said receiving the money is a ‘massive if’ due to a potential change of Government with the pending General Election and the overall scheme was in danger of going ‘belly up’.

Cllr Munro’s revelation surfaced as the committee agreed at a meeting, on June 25, to hold a further meeting with the council’s Executive members to question their reasoning behind the reallocation of the endangered Levelling Up funding across the region including Shirebrook, Pinxton and Bolsover.

He told the meeting the committee has the right to question the Executive’s choices but it may have little influence as he also suggested the funding and the overall scheme could be in jeopardy anyway.

Cllr Munro, said: “I don’t think we can influence at all because I think at the end of the day they (the Executive) were put under phenomenal pressure by the department for housing and levelling up to come up with a plan.

“The plan was eventually rubber-stamped by the minister. All we are waiting now for is the final agreement to advance the money and that’s how I see it.

“I don’t think it’s any different and that is why I think, personally, we can comment on what’s happened and the way decisions are reached but I do not think we are going to influence it if the money materialises and I still think that’s a massive if because if we do have a change of Government it’s been made absolutely clear that priorities will not necessarily lie in this direction.

“We just don’t know where the priorities will lie so this could all go ‘belly up’ anyway. Yes, I think we have every right to question why they focussed on these areas.”

The Labour-led council originally earmarked the funding for Bolsover town centre projects but recently revealed not all these could be completed within a deadline, some were no longer viable and it was important not to miss out on the funding so just over £6m of the original scheme’s projects stayed in place and alternatives had to be considered for the rest of the money.

Original plans for Bolsover town included public realm improvements, the re-purposing of abandoned buildings like the former Co-op store, and greater accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists with more community spaces and new recreation or leisure facilities.

But the council stated that now just over £6m of viable Bolsover town centre projects which can be completed within a deadline have been earmarked including improvements for a public realm and to shop fronts, with a new community business centre and creative retail outlet.

Projects which the council argued can no longer be delivered within the March, 2026, deadline had to be reconsidered including a ‘cultural hub’ which would have been a four-year development and which would have required an ‘end-user’ with management responsibilities who had not been identified.

It had been hoped the ‘cultural hub’ would have involved the purchase of vacant retail units to provide better opportunities for new businesses or the expansion of existing ones in Bolsover town.

The council also stated some buildings earmarked within the original plans had either been sold or been occupied, but it insisted alternative proposals for Bolsover town centre had been considered.

It also explained it had worked with the Arts Council on proposals for the alternative schemes for the town centre and there had been a review of deliverable projects across the district before it confirmed its latest list of district-wide projects which has been approved.

The Government-approved projects now include improvement plans to the public realm around the district, enhancing shop fronts to help make the area more visually appealing to attract shoppers and visitors and the establishment of community and creative hubs.

Also included in the updated bid is the redevelopment of prominent buildings in Bolsover town centre.

Conservative Bolsover Parliamentary candidate Mark Fletcher, the area’s last MP before Parliament was dissolved for the General Election, has accused the council of ‘betraying’ and ‘hijacking’ the original bid for the funding which he says he had helped to secure and he launched a petition urging the council to stick to its original plans.

Mr Fletcher stated the changed plans with the money to be used over a wider area will not have any lasting impact and he argued he would love to have enough money for everywhere he represented but if funding is not concentrated properly then the impact will be minimal.

Changed plans for the funding now include the following eight projects across the district including Bolsover, Shirebrook and Pinxton :

Funding of £5m for Public Realm improvements in Bolsover town and across key town centres with landscaping, vehicle routes, street furniture and signage, improved welcome points. lighting and safety, resurfacing and reconfiguring open market squares for events, green routes and planting;

Funding of £1,950,000 for the acquisition, demolition and site clearance of Bolsover town’s former Co-operative food store buildings and hard landscaping to create a new public boulevard and urban green space improving acces along Town End and to Bolsover Castle;

Funding of £1,500,000 for a Bolsover Community Business Centre at the former White Swan Public House, Town End, Bolsover;

Funding of £850,000 for a Creative Makers Retail Outlet in Market Place, Bolsover, with the refurbishment of a retail unit to act as a pop-up space for artists and creative retailers on a short-term basis supporting businesses looking to enter the retail market.;

Funding of £1m for a district-wide Shopfront Improvement Scheme to stimulate investment with an improved visual appearance of retail facades and shop frontages but this will not include Shirebrook which has already benefited from a similar scheme;

Funding of £2m for a Green Skills and Retrofit Skills Centre, on Portland Drive, Shirebrook, with a retro-fit training hub and training rooms based on green technologies;

Funding of £2m for Shirebrook Market Place Pavilion, on Market Square, Shirebrook, with a new landmark building with public toilets, market store for trader equipment, and commercial space;

Funding of £700,000 for Pinxton Community Hub, on Church Street East, Pinxton, with the refurbishment of a former Church Hall providing a community meeting house with a hall, cafe and kitchen, toilets, office and storage areas, and outdoor seating and an enclosed play area.

Natalie Etches, Head of Business Growth at the council, explained to the committee that time had worked against the council with a Government announcement about the funding in October with limited information followed by short deadlines.

She also confirmed that despite the council providing information to the Government back in March the local authority is yet to hear formally that it has been awarded the funding.

Ms Etches added she would also like to know how the council’s Executive reached its decision on how to spend the money based on a priority list but she acknowledged the deadline difficulties faced by the council in reaching its decisions.

The committee also discussed a suggestion to ‘call-in’ the council’s decision on the funding allocation so it could possibly be reconsidered.

But the committee opted instead to vote unanimously in favour of Conservative Cllr Will Fletcher’s motion that the committee requests a meeting with Growth Portfolio holder, Cllr John Ritchie, of the council’s Executive, to discuss the matter further.

The Government Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the funding for Bolsover town in his Autumn Statement specifically to support town centre regeneration, public realm improvements, and cultural and heritage projects within the town based on an original bid and with criteria.

At the time, Bolsover District Council had originally welcomed the £15m Government Levelling Up funding to regenerate Bolsover town centre with ‘Cultural Hubs’, a shop front and public realm scheme and improved network connectivity.

A council report stated work on the new list of eight projects was due to get under way by June – apart from the Bolsover Community Business Centre which was expected to start by April – with them all due to be completed by March 31, 2026.

Ms Etches told the committee meeting, at the council’s HQ, The Arc, in Clowne, that as soon as the council receives a ‘memorandum of understanding’ the projects should get under way at the same time.