News from Derbyshire County Council - 10th September
Extra council funds for local groups
Are you in a community group? Your local councillor has extra funding available this year to help groups in their area.
Each county councillor usually has £3,860, as part of our Community Leadership Scheme, to give to local groups. But this year an additional £3,860 has been allocated bringing their total to £7,720. And next year councillors will receive £3,860, plus a £1,500 Platinum Fund to give to local groups organising activities to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
If you're in a group looking for funding please contact your local county councillor explaining the nature of the project, the amount you're looking for, what other funding may be available, and how it will benefit your community.
Want to help run a community library?
Local groups interested in running a community library are being asked to step forward to find out more. We're re-launching our drive to find local groups across the county who are interested in taking over the reins at one of 14 county council-run libraries earmarked for community management. We're asking community groups to take the opportunity now as the council begins to encourage expressions of interest again following a pause in the programme due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The drive is part of our 'Libraries for Derbyshire' strategy which was first launched at the beginning of 2019 and included a plan to transfer 20 council-run libraries out of 45 over to community management over the coming years. The first milestone has already been reached with the handing over of Woodville Library, now called Woodville Community Managed Library, near Swadlincote, to Circularity Association last month.
The other libraries are Borrowash, Brimington, Clowne, Creswell, Duffield, Etwall, Gamesley, Hadfield, Hayfield, Holmewood, Killamarsh, Melbourne, Old Whittington, Pinxton, Somercotes, Tideswell, Whaley Bridge, Whitwell and Wingerworth. Five other groups are currently working with us with a view to taking charge of their local libraries in the future. These libraries are Etwall, Melbourne, Old Whittington, Tideswell and Wingerworth.
For successful groups support from the council will include grant funding for five years and assistance in the financial processes of running a community managed library for the first two years.
Post-Covid help for entrepreneurs
A partnership of councils across Derbyshire, including us, has launched a scheme to encourage more people living locally to set up their own companies. A year after the coronavirus pandemic swept through Derbyshire, the economic impact is still being felt right across the county, with many businesses still counting the cost and people who lost their jobs still looking for work.
But while many sectors continue to struggle, there has been a huge increase in people setting up their own business in order to keep their heads above water or simply fulfil a long-held ambition. And they're not alone. Figures show that across the UK more than 400,000 new businesses, including more than 2,000 in Derbyshire, were launched last year, with entrepreneurs who may have never dreamed of being their own bosses helping to lead the UK’s post-Covid recovery. Called the ‘Vision Derbyshire Business Start-Up and Business Support Grant Scheme’, the opportunity is open to those who are about to take the plunge or have just started their business journey.
Vision Derbyshire has already assembled a team of local expert business advisors who'll be there to offer free advice and support, while funding of up to £10,000 per applicant is also available.
Cash helps football trusts tackle obesity
We're funding a new project that will see Derbyshire football clubs delivering weight management projects to men. We're providing over £240,000 of Government funding to Derby County FC Community Trust and Chesterfield FC Community Trust so they can deliver weight management services targeted at men.
Weight management services traditionally attract mainly female clients and our in-house lifestyles service Live Life Better Derbyshire is no different, with approximately 80% of clients being female. Funding is being used to commission Derby County FC Community Trust and Chesterfield FC Community Trust to deliver tier 2 weight management services aimed at men.
Derby County FC Community Trust will receive £123,000 to deliver services in the south of the county covering Amber Valley, Erewash, South Derbyshire and South Dales while Chesterfield FC Community Trust will get £123,000 to focus on the north covering Chesterfield, Bolsover, NE Derbyshire, High Peak and North Dales.
Memorial to honour local Covid victims
We're planning a memorial park to remember and honour local people who died from Covid-19. The memorial will be on a meadow grassland site at the northern end of Grassmoor Country Park near Chesterfield. The site has been chosen with the support of the Friends of Grassmoor Country Park. It will provide a beautiful space and a living memorial to the people of Derbyshire who died. It will also recognise the work of the NHS, front line staff and key workers.
The aim is to provide a welcoming and tranquil space for residents from all over our county to visit, to walk, to sit quietly and to remember lost loved ones and friends for years to come.
Award for Community Testing Team
Our Clay Cross Community Testing team is one of hundreds of deserving groups to receive a Beacon of Hope award. More than 120 groups and individuals across the county, and dozens more in the city, are receiving one of the prestigious awards, launched earlier this year by Derbyshire’s Lord Lieutenant Elizabeth Fothergill and the High Sheriff for 2020-21 Tony Walker.
The awards were created to recognise the efforts of groups and individuals who have gone above and beyond and worked tirelessly and selflessly to help and support others during the coronavirus pandemic. Lord Lieutenant Elizabeth Fothergill (left) presented the team with their award.