Stop the negativity around Chesterfield town centre, it is a pleasant and clean place to visit

I moved to Staveley, very close to Chesterfield, in the summer of 2013, and found it a lovely place to live.

Why? The centre of Chesterfield is very pleasant to visit and clean, having fewer empty shops than is now being reported around the country. Those shops that are empty are well kept with little fly-posting or degeneration, such as Argos which is now unoccupied due to moving into one of the large supermarkets, yet the shop is looking in good order awaiting a new occupier.

The people are friendly, vandalism is very low, as is litter. I put this down to the Labour run Chesterfield Borough Council, which has court orders to stop people drinking in the streets and rough sleeping/begging.

There is an ongoing regeneration with new car parks and hotels around the closed Co-op store now being built or revamped along with housing near the station which will have a link to the Chesterfield Canal with shops, housing and a boating basin much bigger and better then that of the Sheffield Canal Basin.

Around Staveley (where I live) there will be the Staveley corridor again with new houses, schools, shops and local businesses along with HS2. Most of the roads are in good condition (and no trees have been killed as in Sheffield were I once lived). They are trying to encourage businesses to thrive, and hopefully HS2 will give this a big boost, with other firms coming to the area from Europe regardless of Brexit.

Now Chesterfield, along with others, is organising a poppy display for the 100th Remembrance Day celebrations which are very inclusive as school and other charitable organisations involved are knitting well over 25,000 poppies to be displayed around the town and area. These can now be seen outside at Chesterfield Labour Party offices, inside the main church and other churches, such as Christ Church, and local shops. And in Staveley, the library and town hall window etc.

The new Queen’s Park in Chesterfield and Healthy Living Centre in Staveley provide excellent facilities for locals, old and young alike, fostering a ‘community spirit’ which makes Chesterfield a very pleasant place to live.

I would never move back to a large city like Sheffield again, Chesterfield is very nice. So please give a fair report of my town ‘Chesterfield in Derbyshire.’

Chazz Swallowdowns

By email

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Read some other thoughts about the town centre by clicking on these previous opinions:

Town centre has plenty of positive points

TLC needed to restore pride back into town

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