Debt-stricken parish council considers action plan over costly leisure centre near Worksop

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council has been left in financial dire straits, according to a previous Locum report, largely due to its running of the Creswell Health and Wellbeing Centre which has now been identified as a key element in the council’s financial plight according to a recent National Association of Local Councils’ independent review.

The NALC review team’s report recommended the council compiles an action plan, appoints a full-time, experienced clerk and financial officer, meets with the Charitable Trust that has been overseeing the centre as well as Bolsover District Council to establish a preferred option for the building’s future while reviewing other properties that the parish council operates.

A review spokesperson stated in a summary of the report: “The parish needs to come to a view about what it wants to do with the centre and its other assets, which cost to run.

“The Locum Clerk has made recommendations to reduce expenditure but a strategic review is required of all the council’s assets – what are they there for? Should they be kept? How much do they cost? Would anyone wish to buy them? And if so for how much?”

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council’s financial monitoring was deemed to have been ‘inadequate’ and the council is liable for a £2m loan taken out from the Government Public Works Loans Board for the centre project and a £533,000 loan from Bolsover District Council, according to the NALC report.

The report stated the loss on the running costs of the centre is now estimated to be costing the parish council £10,400 per week including the PWLB and district council loans.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council has reportedly been running the centre, on Colliery Road, at a loss after it agreed in October, 2020, to borrow £2m from the PWLB to complete the project and Bolsover District Council’s company Dragonfly had to finish the development after the original contractors fell into administration.

The centre opened in April, 2023, during a hugely difficult economic crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic which led to the council increasing its council tax precept for the 2024-25 financial year by a massive 93.2 per cent to help with the centre’s running costs and bills before imposing a huge 2025-26 65.58 per cent council tax hike.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council has explained it was forced to increase its share of residents’ council tax bills for 2025-26 by 65.58 per cent to meet estimated annual operation costs of over £900,000.

Its precept increased from £280,816 in 2023-24 to £555,820 in 2024-25, and then to £919,471 in 2025-26, according to the review report.

The review report stated the parish council had operated adequately before the centre opened but the centre transformed the situation and increased the level of expenditure by some 236per cent.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council and Bolsover District Council have stated they are considering the future of the centre on whether a new management structure will be implemented, or whether the building will be relinquished or have its operations transferred to another party.

The NALC report also recommended the parish council should consider a proposal to sign up to the national Civility and Respect Pledge to support good governance and best practice and to ensure its agendas are published with supporting reports and minutes to keep people informed.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council recently met to approve proposals including plans to generate additional income from the centre, form an HR Committee, recruit a permanent clerk and a joint deputy clerk and financial officer, recruit an Events Centre Manager, form a finance committee and to instruct the clerk to review council policies.

It also met to approve the adoption of the Civility and Respect Pledge and New Model Code of Conduct and to authorise a Councillor Training Programme, and to agree to adopt the NALC report findings and to implement an action plan.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council, according to the review report, is still expected to be liable for the PWLB £2m loan and the district council £533,000 loan unless it can dispose of the centre for more than these commitments.

The NALC report stated: “The key issue now is whether to keep the centre open within an increased precept level, or not.

“The council have in effect bought themselves 12 months until the next budget in 2026 to come to a considered view about what they want to do with the centre and their other assets.”

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council has stated it is taking ‘immediate and decisive action’ to address financial matters and ‘restore the council’s financial health’ and it offered reassurances that it is committed to ensuring the highest levels of financial stability, accountability, and transparency.

However, Creswell and Elmton Residents’ Action Group Chairperson, Christine Hope, has previously called for the parish councillors to resign over the authority’s financial situation after questioning their ability to deal with the ‘serious and complex tasks ahead’.