Councillors hit back at Chesterfield MP's’ call for review which could abolish cash-strapped council

Independent town councillor Paul Mann and Liberal Democrat town councillor Paul Jacobs have highlighted the accumulative financial difficulties which they claim mainly arose under the previously controlled Labour Staveley Town Council and after difficulties following the Covid pandemic.

But now Staveley Town Council is being monitored and investigated by an independent panel to help it get back on track, Cllr Mann feels the authority can safely progress and secure its future.

Cllr Mann said: “I think we can move forward now. We have had an official meeting and we have a good clerk.”

He added: “Most of our debts have been paid and with cutting back we can now start to rebuild and move forward. We are already looking to set part-time staff on to allow Staveley Town Council to do this.

“The Independent councillors are organising events for residents but doing this by forming a group external to Staveley Town Council so as to not put any financial burden on Staveley Town Council.”

Chesterfield Labour MP Toby Perkins has requested Chesterfield Borough Council sets up a Community Governance Review to consider the future of financially-troubled Staveley Town Council and whether it should be abolished.

Staveley Town Council had to borrow around £400,000 from Chesterfield Borough Council earlier this year to save it from bankruptcy while Mr Perkins claims it was suffering losses on ventures and struggling to pay suppliers.

Following a survey, organised by Mr Perkins of 5,172 homes that accumulated only 706 responses to questions about town council services and the future of the authority, the Chesterfield MP claims 83 per cent out the respondents had called for the abolition of Staveley Town Council.

However, Cllr Mann pointed out Cllr Perkins does not represent all of Staveley and that his survey included only a limited number of responses.

Cllr Mann conceded as a Staveley Town Councillor he too is not exempt from criticism after he said that he had agreed money should be spent on staff and, following the Covid lockdowns, on events – despite the financial problems.

But while under the previous Independents’ control, Cllr Mann claims he had noticed a £55,000 shortfall and deficit in the council budget and the council reserves had been exhausted and had fallen into minus figures.

Cllr Mann claimed he had discovered the previous Labour-controlled Staveley Town Council had previously taken out loans totaling £640,000, and he claimed there had been overspends in 2016/17 of £285,000.00, in 2017/18 of £93,000, and in 2018/19 of £109,000 totaling an overspend of about £488,000 which was not carried forward or budgeted.

He added that a £75,000 loan had to be borrowed to pay back over four years to help make sure staff could be paid and Staveley Town Council also had to borrow £400,000 from Chesterfield Borough Council because of its difficulties.

When Staveley Town Council’s financial plight came to light, NE Derbyshire Conservative MP Lee Rowley brought people together to try and resolve matters, according to Staveley Town Council.

Cllr Mann argued that Government policy is to create and support parishes and not to abolish them and he added that what happened with Staveley Town Council’s finances “did not happen in the last two years – it was found in the last two years”.

He said: “I am proud of Staveley and I think it should be a tourism-based area and not an industry-based area because industry is done here. We need to move forward and we need to take the people with us as well.”

Following a tight local election result, with Labour and the Lib Dems on six seats, and the Independents with five, the town council has chosen to delay decisions on appointing a leader, deputy leader and a vice chair after the Lib Dems called for a ‘collegiate’ approach but Cllr Mann feels a power-sharing approach is not likely to work.

Liberal Democrat leader at Staveley Town Council, Cllr Paul Jacobs, also argued MP Toby Perkins’ survey was not representative of the whole of Staveley not least because a third of the area is represented by a Conservative MP.

He said: “There is clearly a case to be made regarding the abolition of Staveley Town Council. The Council has failed to provide value for money to Staveley Taxpayers for many years. However the abolition, or not, of Staveley Town Council is a decision for all Staveley residents and not that of the MP for Chesterfield.

“Under Labour control from 2011-2019, the council started a cafe and a wedding or conference venue at Staveley Hall. Both of these, to join with the loss-making Speedwell Rooms, lost money every year since opening – at the Taxpayer’s expense. Moreover the refurbishment of Staveley Hall went heavily over-budget. All of this culminated in the Council borrowing almost £1,000,000 by 2019 so it could pay its bills. Most of this money has still to be repaid.

“From 2019-2023 the new Independent run council had to borrow a further £75,000 almost immediately to meet deficits inherited from the previous Labour-run council. Supposedly, measures were taken to cut spending and to create reserves. Unfortunately in November 2022 it was revealed that the council had, in fact, no financial reserves, had actually increased staffing and spending and was around £500,000 in deficit on top of all the money still owed from 2011-2019.”

Cllr Jacobs, who has argued for a ‘collegiate’ power-sharing approach to help Staveley Town Council move forward, said: “There is no requirement for a town council to have a single leader, irrespective of the number of seats held by any group. The Leader can be any council member who can command the confidence of a majority of council members.”

Labour-controlled Chesterfield Borough Council is considering Chesterfield Labour MP Toby Perkins’ request for it to pursue a Community Governance Review into the future of Staveley Town Council.

Staveley Town Council’s clerk believes the authority deserves to be given more time and an opportunity to prove that it can move forward and be beneficial to the community.

Labour Staveley Town Cllr Barry Dyke has stated that he was unfortunately not able to comment until the report in question has come to Chesterfield Borough Council and he has had the opportunity to read it in full.