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A huge thank-you to our amazing foster carer Saira for helping us to spread the word about the work of all our incredible foster carers!
 Saira shared her personal journey and the impact fostering has had on her own life, shining a light on the difference foster carers make every single day.
She gave a heartfelt and powerful interview that was featured by BBC News and is a moving reminder of the compassion, resilience and dedication at the heart of fostering.
We hope Saira’s story might encourage others to think about providing a home to a child or young person when they need it most.
📸Saira with her dog Lottie.
We've spent a record £60 million during the financial year 2025/26 to repair and maintain Derbyshire's roads and pavements.
 This record level of investment is driven by our highways annual capital programme, funded by Government and East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA).
This provides the money to deliver major, long-term, preventative maintenance works to extend the lifespan of our roads and pavements using treatments like micro asphalt, surface dressing, slurry sealing, and full road resurfacing.
It also provides money for major road safety improvements, landslip repairs, bridge and drainage improvements.
We now also have up to 34 repair teams which have been working across the county as part of our rapid response reactive repair service fixing up to 2,000 potholes every week.
While this hard work continues, we recognise there is still more to do, underlined by the conditions we’ve faced during the very wet and cold winter.
To support further improvements, we've established a road repair action group to identify opportunities for more innovative ways of working and source additional funding to improve our road network.
📸Council Leader Councillor Alan Graves, Cabinet Member for Potholes, Highways and Transport Councillor Charlotte Hill, Chief Executive Neil Crittenden and Director of Highways Julian Gould with highways staff.
We've supported more than 130 young people to move into apprenticeships or employment over the past 12 months as part of the Youth Employment Support (YES) Derbyshire programme.
The programme, which is a joint initiative between the county council and the government’s Department for Work and Pensions, helps 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, training or employment to get on the career ladder.
Operating from hubs in Swadlincote, Chesterfield and Ilkeston, the programme brings together expertise from specialist support organisations, training providers and employers in a one-stop-shop for young people seeking information, advice, and opportunities to boost their confidence, build their skills and ultimately find work.
📸Council Leader Councillor Alan Graves, pictured centre, at the Chesterfield hub for YES Derbyshire with young people taking part in the programme, from left, Rebekah, Toby, Caelum and Thomas.
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We've approved a plan called the Derbyshire Best Start in Life this week, which will help families with young children across the county to flourish and grow.
The Best Start in Life Plan provides an overview of how support will be designed and delivered across the whole Early Years system over the next three years to improve the lives of children and families right from pregnancy to the end of the reception school year.
We've been allocated £6.75 million in new Government funding to deliver the Best Start in Life programme.
The plan includes a network of Best Start Family Hubs that will give children and families easier, joined‑up access to services. It will also improve access to high quality early education and childcare. It will also improve and build on opportunities for parents to support their child’s early development, recognising the crucial role they play as their children’s first educators.
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Derbyshire’s Heartwood Community Forest has proudly marked a national milestone with the planting of a special holly tree at Tibshelf Common, celebrating 10 million trees planted by communities through the England’s Community Forests’ Trees for Climate programme.
Derbyshire’s Heartwood Community Forest is one of 15 across the country which receive money from the government-funded programme to provide more green space for local residents, especially in areas which have fewer woodlands, to improve access to nature and boost biodiversity.
The ceremonial planting, marked by Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Environment, Councillor Carol Wood, and Matt Smith, Woodland Creation Advisor, pictured, recognises the vital role local people and partners in Derbyshire have played in supporting nature recovery, boosting biodiversity and enriching much-loved community spaces.
Tibshelf Common is one of 47 sites planted as part of Derbyshire’s Heartwood Community Forest this year. The county-council owned site has seen 300 trees planted including English oak, birch, small-leaved lime, crab apple, hazel and holly. The planting scheme has been designed to increase habitats for wildlife, providing cover and foraging opportunities for birds and small mammals, with different areas of trees accessible to the public via multiple public rights of way.
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Talking with pride about our new Council Plan following its recent launch online, you can now watch Council Leader Councillor Alan Graves as he sets out how different the plan is compared to previous years and highlights our clear change in direction.
Describing it as bold and exciting, Councillor Graves explains what the council will be focusing its efforts on, including prioritising vital core services, local decision making and maximising efficiency.
You can watch Councillor Graves here
We're planning to hold a 12-week public consultation about the future of Glossop Household Waste Recycling Centre.
Proposals to close the recycling centre have been put forward as part of measures to help us ensure we can set a balanced budget.
Closing the centre, located on Melandra Road, would save £360,000 a year in running costs.
We operate 9 recycling centres across Derbyshire but Glossop has been earmarked for closure because it collects the lowest volume of waste and recyclables, receives the fewest visits, needs substantial investment and just 13% of visitors are registered to use the site, suggesting a large proportion of users are from outside the county.
More information about the consultation will be made available in the coming weeks.
If you keep poultry or other captive birds it’s good news for you and them, as mandatory housing measures were lifted last week in England and Wales now that bird flu risks have reduced.
Our trading standards officers are keen to spread the word to keepers as birds may have been housed for several months, and they’re advising keepers to follow guidance on preparing to let birds outside again.
Bird keepers must still continue to follow strict biosecurity measures to prevent bird flu and stop it spreading, with mandatory biosecurity measures remaining in place.
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Two Derbyshire schools will receive a share of almost £260,000 towards the cost of creating more teaching space and making the learning environment better for pupils.
Our Cabinet agreed to allocate the funding towards new developments to enhance children’s learning from Section 106 agreements – where developers contribute towards the cost of creating infrastructure such as schools, when building new homes.
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