Cllr Julie Leigh, Leader of Bassetlaw District Council: New Worksop health centre takes shape

It is pleasing to see the steel framework going up as it gives a real sense of the scale of the development taking place. While we own the site, the building will be leased to the NHS and operated by the Newgate Medical Group enhancing healthcare provision for residents by improving accessibility and capacity.

We understand how important it is for people to feel safe in our town centres and have recently renewed our Public Space Protection Orders in Worksop and Retford. This is one of the tools we can use to help tackle anti-social behaviour locally and aims to ensure our public spaces can be enjoyed. For those who do not abide by these laws, we will act where we have the necessary evidence.

A full list of the prohibitions, orders and maps of the designated areas for the PSPO’s in Worksop and Retford can be found online at www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/retford-pspo and www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/worksop-pspo

We are also forging ahead with our High Street Rental Auction Scheme which hopes to improve our high streets and tackle the problem of long-term empty shops. Although we want to positively work with landlords to proactively bring their premises back into use through other interventions such as business support and available grants, we now have power to auction rental properties in specific cases.

One of only four councils selected nationally, we were made ‘Early Adopters’ of the scheme by the government in November 2024 and have now approved the designated areas in which it will be applied in Worksop, Retford and Harworth and Bircotes.

It gives us new powers to require landlords to rent out commercial properties which have been unoccupied continuously for 12 months or for at least 366 days in a 24-month period to tenants.

Finally, there is still time to join our Car Park Conversation which runs until 20th July. We want to hear about your overall parking experience in car parks we run, so we can make sure we are meeting your needs and find out where improvements could be made.

If you take part, you could also win one of six £25 Love2Shop vouchers. To join the conversation visit bit.ly/car-park-conversation.