Council Re-Shaping Continues, Large Solar Farm Approval, Mayor's Top 3 Achievements & More
Happy Monday to you all and I hope you had a great weekend.
It's Monday morning, it's time to grab a brew, open the pink wafers, put the phone on silent and kick back for 10 - enjoy a read of today's newsletter covering all things Bassetlaw and surrounding areas.
Todays thought for the day ... “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”― Oprah Winfrey
Have a great Monday wherever you are reading this.
Justin Doddy, Editor
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter if you haven't already and please forward the newsletter to a friend that you think may like it, especially those that may not be on social media.
East Midlands Mayor on her top achievements since she got into power – they might surprise you
By: Joseph Connolly, LDRS
It’s been two whole years since former Labour MP Claire Ward took up her role at the helm of the East Midlands Combined Authority (EMCCA).
She’s officially halfway through her political term, and while some continue to claim that her role is unnecessary, the Mayor is content that she’s made a lot of difference to the region.
She was asked in a conversation with the Local Democracy Reporting Service what she thinks her top three achievements are.
Free bus passes for young people in rural areas
In August 2024, after just three months in the position, the Mayor introduced free bus passes for college students who live in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, at the very north of the Peak District, near Glossop and Buxton.
The pass was originally a pilot, to try it out, which gave 16-18 year olds free travel to Manchester and Stockport.
The Mayor then renewed it for 2025/2026, after data showed students had taken more than 70,000 free journeys to places like Tameside College and Stockport College.
“Pupils who pick up their GCSE results in August are now able to make a decision based on what’s right for their future, not (on) whether their families can afford to pay up to £800 per year (for public transport) to go to college,” said the Mayor.
“For me, that’s indicative of the focus that I will put on young people in this region to give them the future that they deserve, in this region. I’m really proud of that because that’s actually changing people’s lives. It’s giving them a choice.”
Nearly 1,000 inactive teens now on pathway to employment or education
The East Midlands was chosen by the government as one of eight “trailblazer” regions to lead the “Youth Guarantee” scheme – a project to get the 948,000 young people nationwide who are not in education, employment or training, into work or study.
Top chiefs provided £5m to EMCCA to fund initiatives such as “flexible” work and education placements for young people – where they can split their time between an office or college and home – as well as mental health support and job training.
The Mayor told the LDRS that the funding had helped more than 1,000 18-21 year olds out of the house and out of economic inactivity – and that she had seen the results for herself.
“It’s not just a number,” said the Mayor. “That’s nearly 1,000 young people’s lives that we have helped set onto a course for the future. And I have met some of those people. Recently, I was at Nottingham College.
“One young woman said to me that before she went onto the course she didn’t have very much confidence. She certainly couldn’t stand up and speak to people in public and she found it quite difficult to engage with people.
“When they started, as part of the programme, these young people were told that in 12 weeks, you will be standing up, making a presentation. This young lady said: ‘I thought: You’ve got to be kidding. That’s never going to happen.’ But it did.”
The Mayor said she was proud of the difference the scheme had made.
She said:
“The look on (the girl’s) face: That realisation about how far she had come, the ability to be able to have conversations, to meet people’s eyes, to be that confident, and the number of them who had now got plans for what they were going to be doing, their educational opportunities – some of them getting into work, some of them getting into volunteering – that to me is transformation.”
Transforming abandoned, disused buildings into more than 700 homes
The Mayor’s Brownfield Housing Fund was announced a few days before the Mayor was elected, at the end of April 2024.
It is made up of money from numerous multi-million-pound cash grants that EMCCA bosses have secured from the government, to give out to developers who want to build houses on land that has been built on before, but on which the buildings are now disused or abandoned.
“We know getting access to homes – and affordable homes – is a real challenge in this region for many people,” said the Mayor. “But by using this money in the Brownfield Housing Fund, we’ve unlocked development to build homes that wouldn’t be viable without that money.
“Developers simply couldn’t make it work unless we used that money.”
The rules around the funding mean that developers cannot be mandated to specifically build homes which fall in the affordable category – such as social housing or supported living accommodation.
But through discussion and engagement, EMCCA has secured 544 out of the 700-or-so homes already contracted as affordable.
Numerous developments, promising hundreds more homes, and which are set to receive the Mayor’s money, are currently in the process of having their contracts signed.
“It’s going to change – and is changing – people’s lives,” said the Mayor. “Already in some places, like Newark, people are starting to move into some of these developments.
“We’re making access to homes much more affordable because we’re using that money and we’re regenerating those areas while we do it.”
Police Issue Update on Anti-Social Behaviour at Eaton Riverbank
Nottinghamshire Police and Bassetlaw District Council have issued an update following a number of reports of anti-social behaviour at the riverbank in Eaton.
Concerns raised include excessive noise, littering and behaviour that is negatively affecting local residents, farmers, private landowners and the area's wildlife.
While everyone is encouraged to enjoy the countryside responsibly, visitors are being reminded to respect those who live and work nearby. Loud music, shouting and discarded rubbish can have a significant impact on both the local community and the natural environment.
Police say they will continue carrying out patrols in the area, with enforcement action being considered where appropriate against those responsible for anti-social behaviour.
Visitors are also reminded to:
• Respect local residents.
• Keep noise to a minimum.
• Take litter home or use bins.
• Protect wildlife and the natural environment.
• Not light fires or BBQs.
• Obey signs marking private land, as landowners may pursue civil action for trespass.
Anyone witnessing persistent anti-social behaviour is encouraged to report it to Bassetlaw District Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Team, while crimes in progress should be reported to Nottinghamshire Police via 101 or 999 in an emergency.
Let's all do our part to help keep Eaton's beautiful riverside safe, clean and enjoyable for everyone.
No halt in shake-up plans to Nottinghamshire councils which is ‘days away’ from a decision
By:Lauren Monaghan, LDRS
A last-ditch attempt to halt the re-shaping of Nottinghamshire councils has been struck down and called ‘absolute madness’.
Nottinghamshire’s nine local authorities have been due for a re-shaping for more than a year, which should involve its multiple councils being scaled down to just two.
The government announced its Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) plans back in December 2024 to re-shape England’s two-tier council structure that split council responsibilities between lower-tier district councils responsible for smaller-scale services and upper-tier county councils that handle major services. Nottingham City Council already exists as a unitary authority.
A few options have been put forward to the government that could essentially involve two new unitary authorities being created for Nottinghamshire, which all involve some form of Nottingham city expansion as one unitary and another unitary covering the remaining parts of the county.
The government’s LGR plan has been criticised since it was announced, with Broxtowe council’s leader, Milan Radulovic (Brox Alliance), consistently calling for a “service-based review” on shake-up plans and previous delays to councils agreeing with each other over options in 2025.
Despite a government decision on LGR in the county due “next week”, Independent councillors on Nottinghamshire County Council submitted a motion to call for a pause to the whole process in the authority’s full council meeting on Thursday (July 9).
Councillor Teresa Cullen’s (Brox Alliance) motion mentioned Norfolk County Council’s leadership halting its work with LGR, where the authority has submitted a judicial review over the plans, and stated the government has made LGR decisions on councils outside of the original 500,000-population target for new unitaries.
It called on the authority to ‘believe’ the government did not make a “significant needs based case” and write to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ask the government to “halt” its LGR plans until a needs-based assessment for the shake-up was done.
The County Council formally submitted its option for a Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling merger – with another unitary for the rest of the county – back in 2025.
Announcing her motion, Cllr Cullen told the meeting:
“We are now days away from hearing our fate. We are not here to simply implement government policy, we’re here to represent the people of Nottinghamshire.”
She called LGR “a fundamental restructuring of local government that will affect services, staff, communities and local identity for decades to come”, adding: “Councils were [initially] told new unitary authorities should generally serve populations of around 500,000 people or more, whether we agree with that or not, that was the criteria, the criteria we put our proposals against.”
Cllr Cullen made reference to recent news in neighbouring Derbyshire, where council officials have warned the savings previously forecast from LGR in their county have effectively disappeared.
Backing up the motion, Cllr John Wilmott (Ash Ind) said he had “never seen a decision [LGR] so disliked by the people we represent”.
The whole LGR process was called “rushed” by Cllr Johno Lee, with Conservative opposition leader, Cllr Sam Smith, later referencing the Reform group’s 2025 local election leaflets previously standing against LGR.
Cllr Liz Clunie (Lab) criticised the motion, questioning the amount of time and money wasted if the process was to be paused now and said council departments have already been incorporating LGR into their work to ensure a “smooth transition”.
She said:
“There will be costs over the next few years but surely there must be savings in the long term as multiple layers of local government are removed and our residents deal with a single authority for all their services.”
The grounds for the Independents’ motion was called “absolute madness” by Cllr Mike Robertson (Ref), who said the government were already clear in their initial LGR announcement that “some flexibility” would be allowed for population numbers under new unitaries if “justification” was given.
Council leader, Mick Barton (Ref) said “doing nothing was never an option”.
He continued:
“Both [Broxtowe and Ashfield] could have put an alternative proposal forward, but neither did.
“We knew from day one [Broxtowe] buried [its] heads in the sand and hoped it would go away, just like the Conservatives. [Reform] got elected and we dealt with it within six months of being elected.”
This claim was refuted by Cllr Cullen later in the meeting, referencing Broxtowe Borough Council’s LGR resident survey which had around 12,500 responses – the “largest return” in Broxtowe’s history.
Cllr Barton agreed that representatives across different parties “didn’t agree” with how the government has dealt with LGR but said writing to them to halt the process “will do nothing”.
According to Cllr Helen Faccio (Lab), more than 100,000 Leicestershire residents were estimated to have contacted the wrong council in their area for service support because they were confused over which authority was responsible for a service, calling the two-tier system “complicated, confusing, clunky”.
The motion was struck down with 38 votes against and 18 votes for.
Our three interesting facts for today ....
Snakes that eat snakes can eat snakes that are 139% of their own length
The smallest know snake is the size of a toothpick
In 2017 snakes were observed hunting in packs for the first time
One Earth solar farm approval
By: Jamie Waller, LDRS
Campaigners say they will fight on after plans for the UK’s second biggest solar farm were given government approval – despite a recommendation that they should be refused.
The One Earth solar farm and its battery farm will cover nearly 4,000 acres near Dunham-on-Trent, spanning across the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire border.
The independent Planning Inspectorate said it should be turned down for numerous reasons, including flood risk and visual impact.
However, the government ignored this to grant approval for the scheme, saying the renewable energy for the equivalent 200,000 homes was vital.
The application by renewable energy companies Ørsted and PS Renewables will surround the villages for the next 60 years.
David White, the leader of an action group resisting it, said:
“Even though the government’s given permission, it’s a victory for us.
“We were realistic that the government seems to be steamrolling these through.
“The planning inspectorate recognised it was the wrong place, which has never happened before. We’re an outlier.
“This solar farm will change the character of the area forever, and there are so many better areas to put it.
“We will fight on. We are going through the hundreds of pages with a fine-tooth comb to see if there’s any possible solution. This has given us heart, and we will cover every angle.”
The action group was particularly concerned by how close the battery farm would be to a reservoir, which provides drinking water to Lincoln.
Ray Armstrong said people living in local villages were “mortified” by the decision.
He said:
“They’ve effectively decided to put a massive industrial area on here, which will look atrocious and endangering people’s drinking water.”
Martin Oates said:
“The character of the area is going to change dramatically.
“The fields in front of my home will be blanketed with huge three-metre high panels as far as the eye can see.”
“We must think now whether we have a case to appeal. It could be complicated and costly, but we have to consider.”
The planning process heard objections from local residents and councils, with West Lindsey councillors describing it as a “get rich quick scheme.”
The final decision was made on behalf of the government by Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Lord Whitehead.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
“The only way to have energy security is if we take a pro-growth approach to building more clean energy in Britain. For two years that is exactly what this Government has done.”
One potential legal action is a judicial review to argue that the decision was made incorrectly, as Lincolnshire County Council is currently seeking for a different application.
Boost for mental health support on major roads with new charity partnership
National Highways has teamed up with a leading mental health charity to help people get support quickly and easily, as part of a new 12‑month trial focused on early intervention and preventing crises.
New signage with QR codes will be put up in busy locations near motorways and major A-roads, helping connect people to trusted, local mental health support services. The partnership with the charity Chasing the Stigma, through its Hub of Hope platform, aims to provide timely, accessible support for people who may be struggling, helping them to find help before reaching crisis point.
National Highways continues its work to keep people safe on our network, with traffic officers and control room teams regularly responding to welfare-related calls and working closely with emergency services.
Tragically, around 50 suspected suicides are estimated to occur on motorways and major A-roads each year, accounting for approximately 20% of all deaths on our network.
Nicola Tweedie, National Highways’ Suicide Prevention Lead, said:
“This partnership is an important step forward for National Highways as we continue our work to reduce and prevent harm across our network. We know mental health is complex and not something we can tackle on our own. We don’t want anyone to come to harm on our roads, which is why working with Chasing the Stigma is so important. It allows us to bring together the right expertise to better support people who may be struggling.
“Access to help at the right moment can make all the difference. By making it easier for people to find support quickly, we hope to help people get the help they need sooner and, most importantly, before things reach crisis point.”
Chasing the Stigma already works successfully with major organisations including Network Rail, local authorities and a wide range of community settings such as shopping centres, GP surgeries and libraries.
The Hub of Hope platform brings together more than 14,000 mental health support services across the UK, allowing people to quickly find help that is appropriate to their needs and location.
Jake Mills, CEO and founder of Chasing the Stigma, said:
"We’re incredibly proud to be partnering with National Highways. By working together to provide signposting to the Hub of Hope through signage across the road network, we’re making it easier for people to find help, wherever they are. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to improving access to mental health support and encouraging people to reach out before they reach crisis point. Together, we want everyone to know that support is available, and that nobody has to face their mental health challenges alone."
Insights gathered throughout the trial will be shared with partners to help build a better understanding of local need and inform more targeted mental health support and provision in the future.
Partnership behind Oak House scoops top honours at industry awards
The team behind Nottinghamshire County Council’s newest offices has won the Integration and Collaborative Award in recognition of the outstanding partnership that delivered Oak House near Hucknall.
Nottinghamshire County Council, Arc Partnership, Morgan Sindall Construction and received the accolade at the Constructing Excellence East Midlands Awards. As one of the region’s biggest renowned awards, it celebrates projects and organisations demonstrating excellence and innovation across the built environment sector.
Judges recognised the strong collaboration between all three organisations, in delivering the highly complex Oak House project, recognising the partnership as an exemplar of integrated project delivery.
Arc Partnership, a joint venture between Nottinghamshire County Council and SCAPE, led the design, cost management and project management of the project, while Morgan Sindall Construction delivered the construction works.
Following a two-year build programme, Oak House was completed in May 2025. The three-storey low-carbon office now brings together two front-line services – the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the customer service team.
The project also boosted the economy by reinvesting in the local area. More than £8m was spent with local companies, and more than £9.6m in social value was generated through local economic growth, skills development and community engagement. This included apprenticeship weeks, placement weeks, and school engagement activities.
Wayne Bexton, the County Council's Director for Economy, Environment and Assets said,
"We are delighted with this award as it highlights the fantastic working relationship we have with Arc Partnership and Morgan Sindall.
"We are very proud of this all-electric building which is built to standards which will rank it within the top 10 per cent of new UK (non-domestic) buildings in terms of environmental sustainability.
"Being centrally located in the county, it is the home of two front-line council services and it also the venue for council meetings, including Full Council.
"Oak House is also a catalyst for the regeneration of the wider site, which is currently being transformed into a new community, via the creation of much-need homes by the Vistry Group. There are also plans for other development opportunities on this site to help create jobs and further boost the local economy."
Dan Maher, Managing Director, at Arc Partnership, said:
“I am delighted to see Arc Partnership, alongside the County Council and Morgan Sindall, recognised for the exceptional collaborative approach that made Oak House possible.
“Delivering a project of this scale and complexity required close partnership working at every stage. Despite challenging winter conditions and the need to deliver a quality build at pace, the team was committed to ensuring the building was delivered on time and to the highest standards.”
Richard Fielding, Area Director for Morgan Sindall Construction in the Midlands, said:
"As home to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, the teams within Oak House support some of the most vulnerable people in the county, so getting them a well-built, low-carbon office was always the top priority.
“Receiving this award is real recognition of how well the Morgan Sindall team, Arc Partnership, and Nottinghamshire County Council collaborated to deliver an exceptional, sustainable new building. It wasn't a straightforward build but streamlined procurement through SCAPE enabled the right teams to come together early and keep things moving, making sure that we handed over an office that the council can rely on."
Content courtesy of Nottinghamshire County Council
A Place of Reflection, Learning and Hope Right Here in Nottinghamshire
Just a short journey from Bassetlaw, the National Holocaust Museum in Laxton continues to play a vital role in educating future generations about one of history's darkest chapters while promoting understanding, compassion and respect.
Founded by brothers Stephen and James Smith and their mother Marina Smith, the museum was inspired by a life-changing visit to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in 1991.
Determined that future generations should better understand the Holocaust and its lasting lessons, the family transformed their own home into what is now the UK's only national museum dedicated to Holocaust education.
Today, the museum features permanent exhibitions, peaceful memorial gardens, dedicated education spaces and The Journey – the UK's only exhibition specifically designed to help younger children learn about the Holocaust in an age-appropriate way.
More than three decades after opening, the museum's mission remains as important as ever.
Alongside preserving the memories of Holocaust survivors, it works to encourage critical thinking, helping people challenge misinformation, prejudice, stereotypes and hate in today's increasingly digital world.
The National Holocaust Museum believes that understanding the Holocaust is not only about remembering the past but also about equipping future generations with the knowledge and confidence to stand against racism, discrimination and intolerance in all its forms.
For residents across Bassetlaw, the museum is a remarkable local resource offering meaningful educational visits, inspiring exhibitions and opportunities for reflection.
It stands as a powerful reminder that by learning from history, we can all help build a kinder, more inclusive future.
Source and information credited to the National Holocaust Museum, Laxton.
Thanks so much for reading our local newsletter and for supporting us. We’re committed to providing Bassetlaw with the quality local news service it deserves, but sustaining this work may come with some challenges. Our team is currently discussing how to make Bassetlaw Today financially viable in the long term, and one option we’re considering is introducing a subscription model to help cover our costs.
We want to be open with you about these conversations so you’re aware that a fee may need to be introduced in the future. If that happens, we hope you’ll continue to stand with us and support the publication.
Have a great day and I look forward to seeing you read our next newsletter.
Justin Doddy, Editor
Bassetlaw Today
P.S. Your feedback about this newsletter is important to me. You can email me your feedback to news@bassettlawtoday.co.uk
