4) Growth Plan Options

Views on Growth

4.5 There are however potential opportunities for village centre enhancement from bringing nature into the centre through tree planting and in the positive environmental and economic impact of bringing vacant buildings back in to use.

4.6 What has come out through the consultation responses is the need for increasing opportunities for social participation in Creswell. In addition to venues such as the Events Centre and Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre, this could be achieved through the creation of more workplaces in the village and the informal social opportunities provided by outside space.

4.7  Based on the consultation responses received and the concerns raised, the following three potential options are put forward for a Growth Plan for Creswell.

Option A: Consolidation of already committed housing growth.

Option B: Consolidation of already committed housing growth but with additional employment growth.

Option C: Pursue additional housing and employment growth.


4.8 The following table summarises these three options.

Option A	Consolidation of planned housing growth	300 planned for houses at Colliery Road.	This level of growth is already provided for on committed windfall sites.
Option B	Consolidation of planned housing growth alongside additional employment growth within existing buildings	300 planned for houses at Colliery Road, with small scale employment growth.	Low level of employment growth focusing on the reuse of existing buildings and existing facilities in the village.
Option C	Pursue additional housing growth alongside additional employment growth	300 planned for houses together with additional residential and employment development.  The potential housing sites in Creswell can accommodate from 35 to 1,077 new houses. Additional employment growth on edge of village location(s).	A level of housing growth that would bring forward new infrastructure. Employment growth that would include purpose built new development.

Option A - Consolidation of already committed growth

4.12 The Strategy would prioritise maintenance as well as the potential for the enhancement of existing open spaces in and around the village.


4.13 Another key aim of the Strategy would be to explore the opportunities for increasing green infrastructure within the village and strengthening green links to the wider countryside. Acknowledging the important contribution of green spaces and nature to the quality of life in Creswell, a community centred approach will go hand in hand with improving ecological networks, addressing the health of both people and nature.


4.14 The focus of the Strategy would be Environmental Projects based in the village and surrounding area. The Delivery Plan would look at the different ways of delivering these projects on the ground in terms of the potential for community participation, the involvement of partnership organisations and the availability of funding to make things happen. The purpose of the strategy would be to have a list of Projects that are ‘ready to go’. As key to this, the opportunities provided by working in partnership with local landowners, businesses, and organisations to open up funding opportunities will be explored.




4.15 The Strategy will be a key document in supporting bids for funding to a range of bodies/organisations, national and local. It would also inform requests for S106 developer contributions from any future growth in Creswell.


4.16 Delivering the projects on the ground will provide an opportunity for a range of people from within the community of Creswell and Elmton to come together. In this, the Strategy will build on the Community Woodland Project, a district-wide project within which Creswell is the location of the flagship Lark Rise Community Woodland on Fox Green and the former spoil heap. The project works with communities to increase, improve, and link up Bolsover District’s trees, woodlands, and hedges with the aim to benefit wildlife and to help people get more from their green spaces.


4.17 The community participation component of the Community Green Strategy will take forward and expand on the progress already made by the Community Woodland Project to give everyone the opportunity to improve their physical and mental health through access to high quality local treescapes and related community activities. Its environmental projects will complement that of the woodland planting. The aim is for the quality of the green infrastructure and linkages in and around Creswell to be enhanced, thereby increasing the contribution of green infrastructure to the quality of life for the residents of Creswell into the future.





4.18 The Strategy would also help to take forward the aims of the Council’s Local Nature Recovery Action Plan (2022) as it relates to Creswell. In this there are opportunities from potential future growth in respect of developer’s contributions towards Biodiversity Net Gain, with the protection and restoration of local wildlife, and opportunities to re-introduce species lost from the local countryside.

 

Option B – Consolidation of already committed growth with additional employment growth within existing buildings and cafes spaces.

 

4.19 The focus of Option B is economic growth, alongside the consolidation of recent and planned housing and infrastructure and the Community Green Strategy as outlined under Option A.


4.20 This approach is based on using the built assets that Creswell already has, in the potential of existing buildings and businesses in the village to provide employment space for those working from home as self-employed or as hybrid workers with shared time between home working and office working.


4.21 Employment growth under this option would comprise desk-based workspaces in underused buildings as Shared Rural Workspaces as well as promoting table-based workspaces in the cafés and other existing venues in the village.



Shared Rural Workspaces


4.22 The underused buildings in Creswell represent a potential asset to the village. Some of these buildings provide space that can potentially accommodate a range of employment uses. One such use is Shared Rural Workspace, an initiative that has developed in a large number of rural areas across the country, more-so since the pandemic introduced hybrid working across a range of office-based employment.


4.23 Unlike serviced offices, shared rural workspaces comprise a range of desks/tables and seating that occupy a largely open space within a building. As such they allow for collaboration, knowledge sharing and chance meeting, whilst also enabling those that use it to be able to work privately. Such workspaces cater for hybrid workers, that is to say those office-based workers that also work from home for some of the week. It also caters for freelancers that are otherwise based at home.  As well as responding to the social needs of home-workers and freelancers, Shared Rural Workspace can address the sometimes-uneven provision of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in villages, by providing ICT to a high specification.


4.24 The interior of the shared workspace building is key. Critically, it comprises a range of spaces, from comfy, cafe-style areas to reception areas where people can grab a seat and work in a way that suits them. Through the use of modular office furniture both collaborative and private spaces can be created. In this way the interior of shared workspace buildings can provide something for everyone. The environment of the workspace is homely in the way of being warm and welcoming. The approach is comfortable furniture, ambient lighting, plants, rugs, and soft furnishings to create comfortable and fluid spaces that help creative thinking.


4.25 In Creswell, the former Midland Railway station building and surrounding area are underused. The building and site could potentially accommodate such shared workspaces. The high architectural quality of the building and proximity of the Robin Hood rail connection from Creswell to neighbouring towns and cities provides an ideal location for a high-quality accessible working environment. There have been various studies undertaken investigating the former Station’s potential for employment uses. Under this growth option, these previous studies would provide the starting point to take forward the investigation of its potential for shared rural workspaces.


4.26 In the same way, traditional agricultural buildings also present an underused resource in respect of the potential to accommodate shared workspace. As well as the opportunity to combine high quality technology and a welcoming community workspace in an otherwise redundant rural building, their particular contribution to the provision of shared rural workspaces is the environment offered by an agricultural setting, providing the ideal relaxed location for creative thinking and work.






4.27 Shared rural workspaces in the reuse of agricultural buildings provide high quality office space with the emphasis on a natural landscape setting and access to the countryside. The setting can help contribute to a relaxed ambiance for networking and social interaction, a place to work, network and meet clients.

4.28 In Creswell, there are a number of 19th century farmsteads located around the historic core of the village. The high-quality landscape and network of footpaths from the farmstead’s out into the open countryside provides the ideal setting for the high-quality working environment that characterises shared rural workspaces.

4.29 It is possible to consider that the provision of shared rural workspace could help strengthen the community of Creswell, in that those who may presently work from home for some or all of the week, are able meet with others. In an environment to share business ideas and foster enterprise it would also provide the opportunity for business growth. In combining high quality technology and a welcoming community workspace, shared rural workspaces could also help support and grow the digital, knowledge-based, and creative economy within Creswell.


Co-working Cafes


4.30 Creswell has a range of cafés, either stand alone or as part of a community space, that could potentially provide co-working venues. A co-working cafe combines a traditional cafe with features of a shared workspace where people can work in a relaxed and social environment while enjoying the typical cafe amenities, such as coffee, snacks, and comfortable seating.

4.31 Basic requirements for a co-working café would comprise high-speed internet, printing services, power outlets, and office supplies to support productivity. If space allows, communal tables, or private meeting rooms possibly on upper floors where people can work in a collaborative setting. With the use of first floor rooms cafes could offer hot desking, meeting rooms and private offices which can be rented out for a day or on a more long-term basis. If hosting a meeting with a team or looking to set up a freelancer group there would need to be a big enough table.

4.32 As with shared workspace, co-working cafes offer an informal place to meet, network and potentially collaborate on projects. However, although co-working in a cafe provides the opportunity to socialise, it doesn’t have the consistency and range of people to be found in a shared workspace. Co-working cafes typically offer more flexibility in terms of usage however, as individuals can drop in for a few hours or a day at a time and without having to pay a fee.

4.33 The size of the café is fundamental to it working as both a café and a co-working space. It may not be viable for smaller cafés to give up tables to patrons who were occupying a table for a long time without buying food. Similarly for a co-worker the ambient noise in a small café may be too distracting for working. During the week a cafe could have a dedicated space for working, which could minimise such disruption.

4.34 The dilemma of how often a co-worker using a café needs to order drink/food to be welcome could be overcome by a membership scheme that would also offer discounts on food and drinks or the offer of ‘unlimited coffee’, and (if available on upper floors) hiring meeting rooms.

4.35 The different ways of delivering workspace in Creswell would be explored in a Creswell Workspace Strategy. This would be a multi-agency initiative with a range of Council departments working in partnership with local property owners, businesses, and organisations.

Option C – Pursue additional housing and employment growth

4.40 All Creswell LAA sites would need to bring forward developer contributions towards infrastructure which would be secured by S106 Agreement. Section 106 contributions fall within three main types: Green, Social and Physical infrastructure. Within these, contributions are most often sought towards education, sports and outdoor recreation, open space, affordable housing, highways, health, and art infrastructure. The level of contribution sought from each site against infrastructure is dependent on the numbers of houses approved.

4.41 The impact of further growth upon the natural environment of Creswell was raised in a number of consultation responses including from those who were not against growth. This is addressed in national legislation embodied by the Environment Act 2021 which requires that all new developments now contribute towards preserving biodiversity through creating or enhancing habitats. The mandatory requirement under the Act is a 10% uplift in biodiversity, known as Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG).

4.42 One of the main principles of BNG is the importance of the balance between the need for development and the natural environment. This is in acknowledgement that development often results in a significant impact on or loss of nature and habitat. BNG requires the developer to either incorporate additional habitats in the development or mitigate the loss by providing it elsewhere. The requirements under the Environment Act for BNG took effect in January 2024 for large sites and April


Shared Rural Workspaces