In common with authorities across the country, we are facing budgetary pressures far greater than experienced before, due to factors beyond our control. These include dealing with higher than anticipated inflation and higher prices for fuel, energy and materials, meeting the cost of the national pay award set nationally but met locally, and the continued unprecedented increase in demand for vital adults’ and children’s social care services.

As well as a current forecast overspend for 2023-24 of £33m, there's a predicted shortfall of £39.5m in our budget for the year ahead (2024-25) which has resulted in the savings proposals being put forward.

The announcement earlier this week and accompanying report which will be considered by our Cabinet on 11 January, sets out how we intend to make savings and set a balanced budget for 2024-25. The report includes proposals that will be subject to our Scrutiny process, and the proposals will be considered by the Improvement and Scrutiny Committee – Resources, later this month (22 Jan 2024) before being considered further by Cabinet.

Announcing the report, County Council Leader Councillor Barry Lewis and Deputy Leader Councillor Simon Spencer said they had been left with no choice but to put forward the raft of multi-million-pound savings proposals which, if agreed, would affect many services used by thousands of Derbyshire residents.

All the proposals will be subject to close scrutiny and no decisions have yet been made. Any proposal which could potentially affect residents will be subject to public engagement and or full public consultation where appropriate.

After successfully engaging with developers and hotel operators, and working with specialist architects HLM Architects and Realestateworks over the past year, a preferred option for the whole County Hall complex has been developed, which includes:

• turning the south block of County Hall and the Winter Gardens into a hotel and events venue
• creating new homes in the north block and the south west car park
• building a new, low carbon office on the site to accommodate up to 500 council employees.

During the summer of 2023 expressions of interest were sought from developers, hotel operators and others for their ideas on options for the future of the historic complex of buildings, and the information gained has been used to develop an outline business case, which our Cabinet is set to consider on 11 January.

Our overriding objective is to deliver the best outcome for the long-term use of the complex so that it contributes to the vitality of the town of Matlock and makes a significant ongoing contribution to the economy of the area. 

If the proposals are approved work will continue over the coming months and years to develop the project.

A carer is anyone including children and adults who provide unpaid support with day to day living tasks or personal care to a family member, partner or friend.

The person they care for could be ill, frail, suffers from a physical or mental health condition or impairment, is autistic, living with dementia, drug, or alcohol dependent.

Our carers support service – which is delivered by Derbyshire Carers Association (DCA) on our behalf – includes:

• information, advice, and guidance
• individual support, including face to face, home visits and telephone support
• carers’ assessments and support planning, which may include a carers’ personal budget
• support with emergency planning
• training and learning
• carers’ support groups and events around the county
• advice on taking a break from caring
• free legal advice for carers in association with Ashton Bond Gigg
• volunteering opportunities.

Click ‘find out more’ below for help, advice, and support or call DCA on 01773 833 833. Follow DCA on Facebook and X for news, updates, and events. 

Flooding after heavy rain, including Storm Henk, continues to affect the park and surrounding villages.

Our specialist tree teams are working as quickly as possible in difficult weather conditions to deal with the damage and clear debris and we’re asking people to avoid the area for their own safety.

We’d like to thank everyone for staying away while this crucial work is carried out to make the country park safe for visitors and apologise for any inconvenience.

You can follow Elvaston Castle Country Park on Facebook for updates.

Decluttering after Christmas and new year? Here are some good homes for your stuff!

• If broken, can it be mended free of charge at one of the 18 Repair Cafes in Derbyshire?
• do you have local What’s App and Facebook groups where items can be sold, exchanged or given away? These are often good for rehoming toys, which can also be donated to charity shops, or put in a toy bank at one of our Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) (all sites except Waterswallows in Buxton).

Recycle at one of our HWRCs or in your kerbside collection

Please pre-sort your waste before visiting any of the sites.

• Broken electricals. Remove any batteries as these can be a fire hazard and there's a special container for them onsite, next to the skip for the electricals. Large retailers like supermarkets who sell batteries, will also have containers for recycling used batteries
• and other places local to you that recycle electricals and take used batteries can be found here
• pesky polystyrene – it can’t be recycled yet. Please remove it from cardboard boxes before recycling them
• only put paper and card that is clean and dry in your recycling bin. Anything containing food residue or food stains can’t be recycled.