Residents fear for parish council’s finances over draining Creswell leisure centre costs

Residents have been raising concerns over a cash-strapped Derbyshire parish council’s decision to hold a forthcoming meeting over the running of a costly and controversial £3m leisure centre behind closed doors.

The Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre scheme, on Colliery Road, was originally funded through a number of organisations including Bolsover District Council and Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council and after facing long delays due to the pandemic, rising costs and the original developer falling into administration it finally opened in April, 2023.

However, it has been reportedly running at a growing loss under the parish council during a difficult economic climate and the council has struggled so much with running and equipment costs, wages and bills it was forced to impose a huge council tax hike on residents before recently establishing a Trustee Board to oversee the centre.

Creswell resident Ian Harvey, who is also a Reform UK candidate for the Derbyshire County Council May elections, said: “We have put a request in for the council to update us but we have to see if anything comes from that but we need an update as soon as possible.

“The position of that place is completely untenable regarding the amount of members they have got and the number they need. It is a continuous drain on the council tax precept to the point where they are borrowing money from Bolsover District Council every quarter.

“It’s a blackhole with a 50-year mortgage on the place. It is not only going to affect us now but it will affect people’s children for the next 50 years.”

The parish council originally borrowed £2m from the Public Loans Board to complete the scheme and the district council’s development company Dragonfly had to step in to finish the project.

And now the parish council is holding a confidential Extraordinary Meeting without the public, today (December 12), to consider a council report and advice from its financial officer concerning its situation and its next steps.

Concerned district resident Dom Webb stated: “Having reviewed the notice posted by the parish council for December 12, 5.45pm, it is patently clear that the parish council will for the third successive meeting apply the exempt status to an agenda item that is not suitable for such.”

Mr Webb has also unsuccessfully requested for the agenda to be republished without any exempt items because he claims being ‘financially embarrassed’ is not grounds for an exempt item.

He has also raised concerns whether a Section 114 Notice might be considered due to the parish council’s financial struggles with the centre and if such a notice was issued by the council’s chief financial officer its spending commitments would be frozen before it would have to produce a new budget within 21 days.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council chairperson, Coun Duncan McGregor, previously confirmed the parish council’s council tax precept for the 2024/25 financial year had to be nearly doubled to help pay for the centre’s losses and running costs.

Coun McGregor has explained the parish council received substantial sums of money on the understanding that the centre would eventually be run by the community under an agreement without which the centre would belong to and become the responsibility of the council.

He has explained that should the centre be run by an agreed charity-based management committee – such as a Trustee Board which is the current plan – there would be benefits from better tax rates and future funding opportunities for the facility.

The original £3m project was funded through Bolsover District Council, Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council, Derbyshire County Council, Viridor, and the Big Local and Bolsover Partnership and it resulted in the launch of the Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre.

Parish and district Coun McGregor, together with district and parish councillors, originally secured funding for the facility after the project had attracted support from the public.

The parish council has stated the cost of the building has been taken care of, but staff need wages, and utility bills need paying and new equipment needs to be purchased so the parish council chose to subsidise the centre through its portion of the council tax.

Financial difficulties facing the centre were discussed at the parish council meeting at the start of the year, as long ago as January, at which time the deficit generated for the 2023/24 financial year was estimated to be between £170,000 and £240,000.

The centre was discussed with the public at a council meeting in March where figures provided by Bolsover District Council showed a deficit of £153,109 to the end of March.

And the parish council’s new clerk advised at a recent November 28, council meeting that the council currently has a total of 34 invoices with a total of £132,191.02 which required payment with the oldest being two invoices from 2022 and 2023.

The vast majority of the debt relates to one supplier, according to the clerk, and currently there are negotiations that the parish council will pay the main suppliers and gradually reduce the debt owed to them.

When questioned by Coun Paul Colbert, the parish council clerk confirmed that the main debt is owed to Bolsover District Council and at that time this related to 22 invoices with a total of £124,573.61.

Coun McGregor previously stated the local community made it clear that they wanted a new leisure facility and the parish council has worked tirelessly to make Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre a reality.

In response to public questions at a November meeting, the parish council stated that council vice chairperson, Coun James Wells, has advised that the new Trustee Board comes with a lot of business experience and they will be writing a business plan and also a growth plan with a view to increasing revenue and reducing debt.

The parish council also confirmed that an agreement has been signed that the centre and the new Trustee Board would sublet the premises but it was unable to answer if the board members are registered on the Charities Trust Board.

Mr Harvey added: “We want clarity on everything and we do not want it in a month or two months we need it now. We are worried about next year’s council tax precept increase. When it was 93.2per cent that was a first and it is probably unprecedented.

“It’s plunging parishioners into more and more unaffordable debt and at a time when people are not even putting their heating on.”

He also said: “I feel it needs to come out as soon as possible because at the end of the day they are talking about our money and it will have an impact on Bolsover District Council.

“Staff at the Wellbeing Centre are being paid by Bolsover District Council so it is having an impact on people’s money right across the district.”

Mr Harvey, who is also the founder of Creswell and Elmton Residents’ Association, acknowledged that the Derbyshire Association of Local Councils and the National Association of Local Councils have accepted the confidential nature of the meeting but he argues that it should be open to the public because it concerns public finances and does not relate to any specific individual.

The council has stated that direction has been sought from DALC and NALC about what is to be discussed and this has since been discussed with the monitoring officer at Bolsover District Council.

It added that the meeting is deemed to be a general meeting discussing a number of sensitive issues and although the Wellbeing Centre will be touched upon it is not the primary reason for the meeting.

The council has stated it is to receive a confidential report from the council’s consultant and advice from the authority’s financial officer concerning its current financial situation and its next immediate steps with a view to implementing the report’s recommendations without delay.

It has also resolved that members of the public are to be excluded from the meeting at the Events Centre, on Elmton Road, in Creswell, due to the confidential nature of the items of business to be transacted.

Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council has been asked for more detail regarding its financial position and the Wellbeing Centre but no further comment has been forthcoming at this stage.

The centre – which replaced Creswell’s Duke Street Leisure Centre which Bolsover District Council closed in December 2016, due to its deterioration – offers a gym, a sports hall, a group exercise studio, classes, a soft play area, a caving experience and a cafe overlooking a patio.