SHIREBROOK GROWTH PLAN

Consultation Draft Document

March 2024

Contents

1) Introduction

⦁ Background

⦁ Purpose of this document

⦁ How has it been prepared?

2) Policy Framework for the Shirebrook Growth Plan

⦁ Vision Bolsover

⦁ Local Plan for Bolsover District

⦁ National Planning Policy Framework

⦁ National Planning Practice Guidance

3) Consultation findings to date

⦁ Initial Consultation Exercise

⦁ Masterplanning Consultation

4) Options for Growth Plan

⦁ Living and Working in Shirebrook (Including potential development sites)

⦁ Shirebrook Town Centre

⦁ Green Spaces and the Countryside

5) Next stages and the Growth Plan preparation timetable

Equalities Statement

Bolsover District Council is committed to equalities as an employer and when delivering the services it provides to all sections of the community. The council believes that no person should be treated unfairly and is committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination, advancing equality and fostering good relations between all groups in society.

Access for All Statement

You can request the Shirebrook Growth Plan policy document, or other formats such as large print or in other languages by contacting the council on:

Phone: 01246 242424
Email: [email protected]
BSL Video Call: A three way video call with us and a BSL interpreter. It is free to call Bolsover District Council with Sign Solutions, you just need wifi or mobile data to make the video call, or call into one of our Contact Centres.
Call with Relay UK: via textphone or app on 0800 500 888 - a free phone service provided by BT for anyone who has difficulty hearing or speaking. It's a way to have a real time conversation with us by text.
Visiting one of our offices: At Clowne, Bolsover, Shirebrook and South Normanton

Preface

P.1 This document has been prepared for the purposes of the consultation exercise on the Council’s draft Shirebrook Growth Plan.

P.2 This consultation exercise starts on Monday the 4th of March and runs through to Friday 5th April 2024 and if you want to make comments on the contents of this consultation document you need to provide them by 5pm on the 5th April 2024.

P.3 Comments should be made through the PlaceBuilder Consultation Portal as this is the easiest and quickest way for you to make your comments.

Submitting your representation online via PlaceBuilder

Submitting your representation online is a quicker way of getting involved.

⦁ Your representation will already have your contact details filled in.

⦁ You will receive an instant confirmation email to give you a receipt so that you know your representation has been successfully delivered and that your comments will be considered.

⦁ Go to https://placebuilder.io/shirebrookgp/ for more information.

(If you don’t yet have an account, you can set one up easily from this web address)

P.4 If this method is not accessible to you, you will be able to email or post your comments to us in the standard way.

1) Introduction

Background

1.1 Bolsover District Council resolved to commence the preparation of a Growth Plan for Shirebrook in February 2022.

1.2 Growth Plans are non-statutory planning documents that sit on top of the Local Plan for Bolsover District and direct where additional growth would be acceptable to the Council. The Council will adopt prepared Growth Plans as material considerations in the planning processes.

Purpose of this document

1.3 The purpose of this document is to set out the potential content of the Growth Plan and the key options for growth that it could include so that the Council can hear the views of all stakeholders before making its decision on how the Growth Plan should be finalised.

How has it been prepared?

1.4 As Growth Plans are non-statutory documents, the Council is preparing the Shirebrook Growth Plan in accordance with its Local Development Scheme (2022) and consulted on in accordance with its Statement of Community Involvement.

1.5 The preparation of the Shirebrook Growth Plan started in March 2022 and has already undergone two stages of public consultation:

- - Initial Consultation Exercise in March 2022 – this consultation asked people living and working in Shirebrook what they thought about the town as a place to live and work in, and what they thought about the town centre and local environment.
  - Masterplanning Consultation Exercise in September 2022 – this consultation asked people what they thought growth in Shirebrook could look like and what land uses it should include.

1.6 The feedback by way of the representations submitted to the Council have all been considered and have informed the contents of this document and more information on this is set out below in section 3.

2) Policy Framework for the Shirebrook Growth Plan

Initial Consultation Exercise

2.1 Vision Bolsover is the Council’s corporate prospectus and sets out its Vision to become a dynamic, self-sufficient and flexible Council that delivers excellent services, whilst adapting to local aspirations and acting as the economic and environmental driver for Bolsover District.

2.2 In relation to the Economy strand, Vision Bolsover sets out that the Council’s priorities include:

Working with partners to support enterprise, innovation, jobs and skills;
Unlocking Development Potential: unlocking the capacity of major employment sites;
Enabling Housing Growth: increasing the supply, quality and range of housing to meet the needs of the growing population and support economic growth;
Promoting the District and working with partners to increase tourism.

2.3 In relation to the Environment strand, Vision Bolsover sets out that the Council’s priorities include:

Reducing our carbon footprint whilst supporting and encouraging residents and businesses to do the same;
Enhancing biodiversity and developing attractive neighbourhoods that residents feel proud of and take responsibility for;
Actively engaging with partners to benefit our communities.

Local Plan for Bolsover District

2.4 The Local Plan for Bolsover District was adopted by the Council in March 2020 and is an ambitious document which actively tackles the issues we face today in seeking to achieve sustainable growth.

2.5 It is underpinned by sound evidence and a spatial strategy that retains the District’s distinctive identity whilst providing the growth that is needed for the District to prosper and flourish. This means that it plans for the right amount and type of homes to meet our needs, in the right places with the right infrastructure in place to support all residents and businesses going forward.

2.6 The Local Plan for Bolsover District classifies Shirebrook as a Small Town and in recognition of its place as one the District’s more sustainable settlements, the Local Plan establishes Shirebrook, together with the Small Town of Bolsover and the Emerging Towns of South Normanton and Clowne, at the top of the District’s spatial hierarchy.

2.7 As such, the Local Plan for Bolsover District states that to achieve sustainable development it will direct development and service provision to these settlements. Based on this strategy, the Local Plan for Bolsover District allocates approximately 800 new dwellings and 11 hectares of new employment land to Shirebrook through to 2033 and this amount of development is to be predominately accommodated at sites on the southern side of Shirebrook at Brookvale and Brook Park, although the employment land has since been built out.

2.8 Any additional growth supported through this Growth Plan would be on top of that allocated in the Local Plan for Bolsover District. It may also be contrary to the Local Plan for Bolsover District. If the Growth Plan is adopted by the Council it will be a material consideration taken into account in the determination of future planning applications.

National Planning Policy Framework

2.9 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was first published in March 2012 but has been updated several times since. The latest version was published in December 2023 and sets out the Government’s policies for England and how these should be applied. It provides a framework within which locally-prepared plans can provide for sufficient housing and other development in a sustainable manner, so significantly boosting the supply of housing and helping to build a strong and competitive economy.

2.10 Crucially, the NPPF states that there are three overarching objectives to achieving sustainable development, namely:

an economic objective - to help build a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right types is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth, innovation and improved productivity; and by identifying and coordinating the provision of infrastructure;

a social objective - to support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by fostering well-designed, beautiful and safe spaces, with accessible services that reflect current and future needs and support communities’ health, social and cultural well being: and

an environmental objective - to protect and enhance our natural, built and historic environment; including making effective use of land, improving biodiversity, using natural resources prudently, minimising waste and pollution, and mitigating and adapting to climate change, including moving to a low carbon economy.

National Planning Practice Guidance

2.11 The National Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) provides guidance on a range of planning practice categories and helps explain how national policy should be implemented.

3) Consultation findings to date

Initial Consultation Excercise

3.1 Work commenced on the preparation of the Shirebrook Growth Plan in March 2022 and an Initial Consultation Exercise ran between 1st and 31st March 2022.

3.2 This consultation exercise followed a digital, mobile first, approach that sought to engage with people living or working in Shirebrook to find out what they thought about living and / or working in Shirebrook, and their thoughts on the town centre and on the wider environment.

Placebuilder homepage selection screen

3.3 During this exercise, we received 165 responses although not all respondents provided answers on all four parts of the consultation subjects. The results are summarised below.

Living in Shirebrook

3.4 The first part of the consultation focussed on what it is like ‘Living in Shirebrook’, and the received responses can be summarised as follows:

42% of the respondents had a ‘neutral’ feeling about living in Shirebrook (not good or bad), with 25% having a ‘good’ feeling and 19% with a ‘bad’ feeling.
59% of the respondents liked living in Shirebrook because of the good access to green space and the countryside.
73% of the respondents did not like the quality of the town centre and Market Place.
47% of the respondents wanted better shops and services in the town centre.
In terms of types of new housing, 35% of the respondents wanted new housing of all types for local people, 31% wanted affordable homes and 31% wanted new market housing.
88 individual comments were made in the free text box covering a variety of issues. Common themes were fear of crime and anti-social behaviour; the town looking rundown; little to do in the town for the younger generation; and a lack of quality shops and pubs/restaurants.

Working in Shirebrook

3.5 The second part of the consultation focussed on what it is like ‘Working in Shirebrook’, and the received responses can be summarised as follows:

In terms of why respondents liked working in Shirebrook, 52% said it was because they could walk or cycle to work and 48% said it was because they lived close to their job.
30% of the respondents did not like working in Shirebrook because of limited car parking in their place of work, and 27% did not like the poor public transport.
50% of the respondents wanted better and more frequent public transport to get to work, and 27% of respondents wanted better cycle routes and pedestrian routes to work.
52% of the respondents wanted more jobs in retail and 25% professional services.
In terms of what could be done to improve respondents working lives, 28 respondents (20%) wanted more flexible hours, 23 respondents (17%) wanted to walk or cycle to work and 22 respondents (18%) wanted more places to go at lunchtime and after work.

Town Centre and Market Place

3.6 The third part of the consultation focussed on the Shirebrook’s Town Centre and Market Place, and the received responses can be summarised as follows:

In terms of why respondents liked the town centre and Market Place, 45 respondents (51%) said it was because they liked the availability of car parking, 29 (32%) said it was because they liked the convenient bus stops in their town centre.
81% of respondents disliked the poor choice of shops and services, 61% disliked unpleasant shopping environment, and 60% disliked ‘traffic entering square’.
In terms of what respondents thought could be done to improve the environment of the town and local centre, 33% said they wanted a better-quality market and 32% said they wanted higher quality paving and street furniture.
In addition, 36% of respondents said they wanted more events in the town centre, 26% said they wanted a greater variety of shops, 18% said they wanted more pubs / restaurants and 15% said they wanted better markets.
The town centre and Market Place was the most commented about part of the town in the Map based comments section, where 26 individual comments were received.

Green Spaces and the Countryside

3.7 The fourth part of the consultation focussed on Shirebrook’s Green Spaces and the Countryside, and the received responses can be summarised as follows:

65% of the respondents liked their green spaces because they were good for recreational walking; 46% thought they were good for kicking a ball around; and 43% felt they were well maintained.
59% of the respondents disliked their green spaces due to poor quality Equipped Play Areas; 39% poor maintenance; and 19% poor for recreational walking.
In terms of countryside footpaths, 52% of the respondents thought there were lots of walking routes; 41% thought there were ‘some’ walking routes, and 39% of respondents thought that some were good quality routes.
In terms of cycle routes, 35% of the respondents felt that there were ‘some’ cycle paths, 33% thought there were ‘few’ cycle paths and 20% felt that only ‘some’ were of a good quality.
In terms of combatting the effects of climate change, 43% of respondents said ‘more solar panels’ were needed, and 39% of respondents said ‘more tree planting’ was needed.

Summary

3.8 This new and more digital form of engagement saw greater levels of public involvement. Furthermore, it is considered that the responses provided during the Initial Consultation Exercise told us that:

Shirebrook is a reasonable place to live, largely because it has good access to the countryside. In terms of types of new housing, large proportions of the respondents wanted new housing of all types for local people, including affordable homes and new market housing.

Shirebrook is a reasonable place to work, largely because respondents could walk or cycle to work. In terms of improving working opportunities, large proportions of the respondents wanted better and more frequent public transport and better cycle routes and pedestrian routes to get to work. In addition, half of the respondents wanted more jobs in retail and professional services.

The majority of respondents did not like the quality of the town centre and Market Place, saying it had a poor choice of shops and services, an unpleasant shopping environment with too much traffic entering the square. To improve the town centre and Market Place, large proportions of the respondents said that a better-quality market was needed and that higher quality paving and street furniture, more events and a greater variety of shops should be considered.

Shirebrook has good green spaces and countryside footpaths and cycle routes but that these could be improved. To combat the effects of climate change, large proportions of the respondents said ‘more solar panels’ were needed and that ‘more tree planting’ was needed.

3.9 This feedback informed the Council’s work on the preparation of the Shirebrook Growth Plan and the next stage of public engagement.

Masterplanning Consultation Exercise

3.10 The second stage of consultation focussed on masterplanning and sought to find out what the people of Shirebrook and other stakeholders thought any potential growth in Shirebrook could look like.

3.11 To enable this public engagement to take place, the Council worked in partnership with The Future Fox, a PropTech digital planning company, to develop a new, innovative and nationally commended Masterplanning digital planning tool. This work was funded using money from the Government’s PropTech Innovation Fund and the created Masterplanning digital planning tool helped participants explore how large development sites are designed, what features or components they could include and play with the trade-offs between elements that generate income for the developer and those that cost money.

3.12 To facilitate this consultation exercise, one of the sites around Shirebrook that had been promoted to the Council through the Land Availability Assessment ‘Call for Sites’, namely the large area of land to the west of Shirebrook, was chosen as the ‘blank canvas’ for the masterplanning exercise. This site was chosen because it was large enough to allow for a realistic masterplanning exercise to take place, involving several different lands uses that wouldn’t be possible or feasible on a smaller site.

3.13 During this exercise, over 500 people used the Masterplanning digital planning tool and we received 94 formal submissions showing the types of land uses that people thought any growth in Shirebrook should include.

Thoughts on land uses that should be included in any additional growth

3.14 Respondents had a wide range of land uses that they could add to their masterplan and they were not prevented from using some or all of the different land use types. They could also add as many or as few land use tiles on to their masterplan as they wanted with the aim of respondents being free to tell the Council what types of land uses that any additional growth in Shirebrook should contain.

3.15 The Masterplanning digital planning tool did include a financial element so that respondents could explore how certain types of land use generate income or have costs to deliver. This was used to give a sense of realism to the creation of their masterplan and respondents were encouraged to ‘balance their books’ and so explore the trade-offs when planning new development, although again they could choose to ignore this aspect if they wished. The table below shows the total number of icons placed by land use type from all 94 submissions.

Income Uses	No	Infrastructure Uses	No
Market Housing	132	Roads	223
Shopping Area	118	Nature Site	112
Social Housing	86	Solar / Wind Farm	103
Eco Homes	81	Woodland	70
Offices	57	Leisure	58
Total Income Uses	474	Green Space	49
		GP Surgery	42
		Western Park	37
		Recycling Centre	34
		Sports Playing Pitch	27
		Primary School	27
		Skills College	26
		Total Infrastructure Uses	808

3.16 As can be seen, the table above identifies that market housing and shopping areas were the most frequently chosen income generating land uses and that roads, nature sites and solar / wind farms were the most frequently chosen infrastructure expenditure land uses. Whilst these cannot be considered to be a definitive set of preferred land uses within any additional growth proposals for Shirebrook, this feedback is of value and should inform the masterplanning proposals of any future growth in Shirebrook.

4) Growth Plan Options

Living and Working in Shirebrook

4.1 As indicated in section 2, the Council’s preparation of the Shirebrook Growth Plan is not undertaken in a policy vacuum. However, as the Growth Plan seeks to plan for additional growth over and above that planned for through the Local Plan for Bolsover District, the Council has a degree of latitude when deciding how much additional growth to support in Shirebrook in order to improve living and working in Shirebrook.

4.2 The first step within this decision is to establish what land is available for any additional growth, so recognising that the first step in developing land is to have a willing landowner wanting to promote and sell their land for development.

4.3 To establish what land is available for any additional growth, the Council maintains a register of promoted land and undertakes a high level assessment of the suitability and deliverability of the promoted sites – this is known as a Land Availability Assessment and this forms an important part of a local planning authority’s evidence base.

4.4 The Council’s Land Availability Assessment is comprised of two parts – the first part being the full comprehensive assessment carried out in 2017 and 2018 to support the preparation of the adopted Local Plan for Bolsover District and the second being the results of the Call for Sites carried out during the Autumn of 2021.

4.5 The table below sets out the number of new houses or hectares of employment land that these sites, suggested in Autumn 2021, could potentially deliver (housing figures are based on a standard 30 dwellings per hectare density). The boundary of each of these sites is shown on the plan below.

LAA sites submitted for Housing and Employment uses
No.	Site	Housing	Employment
09	Land at the Paddocks Farm Lane	75	0
14	Land North of Shirebrook School	200	0
23	Land north of Meadow Lane	500	0
26	Woodland Farm	160	0
27	Land West of Shirebrook	3,000	10 ha
28	Littlewood Farm	1,050	35 ha

4.6 In view of the available sites that could accommodate any additional growth, the Council considers that there are three broad options for the level of additional growth for Shirebrook, namely:

Option A – Limited additional growth
Option B – Medium additional growth
Option C – High additional growth

The following table summarises these three options.

	Option A	Option B	Option C
Description	Limited additional growth	Medium additional growth	High additional growth
Potential levels of additional housing and employment growth	500 new houses with limited new employment land	1,500 new houses with 20 hectares of new employment land	3,000 new houses with 50 hectares of new employment land
Comments	This level of growth could be accommodated within Shirebrook and would not need to include land within the countryside around Shirebrook.	This level of growth would need to include land within the countryside around Shirebrook but would be able to deliver greater investment in desirable infrastructure improvements.	This level of growth would need to include greater amounts of land within the countryside around Shirebrook but would be able to deliver even greater investment in desirable infrastructure improvements.

4.7 The following plans illustrate how these three broad options for the level of additional growth for Shirebrook could work with the promoted available sites.

Option A - Limited additional growth

4.8 In this option, the desired limited quantum of growth would be achieved by restricting additional growth over and above that planned for in the Local Plan for Bolsover District to only those available sites within the development envelope of Shirebrook, namely land north of Meadow Lane (shown in red in the plan below) which could deliver approximately 500 houses.

Option B – Medium additional growth

4.9 In this option, the desired medium quantum of growth would be achieved for approximately 1,000 houses and 20 hectares of employment land in the countryside west of Shirebrook in addition to the 500 dwellings on the land within Shirebrook. An approximate boundary is shown but if this option was the one chosen the potential level of additional housing and employment growth would determine the exact site boundary (shown in red in the plan below).

Option C – High additional growth

4.10 In this option, the desired high quantum of growth would be achieved by stating the Council’s support for approximately 2,500 houses and 50 hectares of employment land in the countryside west and south of Shirebrook in addition to the 500 dwellings on the land within Shirebrook (shown in red in the plan below).

4.11 Based on these identified potential options and considering the feedback from the two previous consultation exercises, it is possible to set out the following broad advantages and disadvantages for each option.

Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
A - Limited	No land identified in the Local Plan for Bolsover District (2020) as countryside is being considered to accommodate additional growth. Also, the potential area of growth represents an in-fill site that has previously had outline planning permission.	This option would mean less economic benefits from additional population growth. There would likely be a limited impact on housing affordability due to less housing numbers being provided. The Council could ask for 10% of a lower number of dwellings., but also lower numbers of housing would be less likely to force down house-prices. There would likely be little or no employment land provision and therefore limited job creation. This option would be unlikely to lead to the delivery of the types of land use that have featured as being desirable through masterplanning consultation feedback, as detailed earlier in this document, and / or improvements to the wider highway network.
B - Medium	This option would generate economic benefits from additional population growth and could have a reasonable impact on housing affordability due to the oversupply of housing in the local area. Likely to lead to delivery of some of types of land use that have featured as being desirable through masterplanning consultation feedback.	This option would see large amounts of countryside being considered to accommodate additional growth. Likely to not allow for all types of land use that have featured as being desirable through masterplanning consultation feedback and may not enable improvements to wider highway network.
C - High	Would generate significant economic benefits from additional population growth and could have a significant impact on housing affordability due to the significant over supply of housing in the local area. Likely to lead to delivery of all types of land use that have featured as being desirable through masterplanning consultation feedback and should see the delivery of improvements to wider highway network.	Would see significant amounts of countryside being considered to accommodate additional growth.

4.12 The Council is interested in knowing what people think about these growth options in Shirebrook and the questions in this consultation ask for your views.

Individual Promoted Available Sites

4.13 The Council is also interested in knowing what people think about the individual promoted available sites, in particular comments on the sites from statutory consultees to aid the Council to complete its Land Availability Assessment work.

4.14 Please answer the questions here to provide any comments on these individual promoted available sites.

No. 09 - Land at Paddocks Farm Lane

Land at Paddocks Farm Lane promoted site map

No. 14 - Land North of Shirebrook School

Land North of Shirebrook School promoted site map

No. 23 - Land North of Meadow Lane

No. 26 - Land at Woodland Farm

No. 27 - Land west of Shirebrook

No. 28 - Land at Littlewood Farm

Land Uses to be Included in Growth Proposals

4.15 The Council is also interested in what type of land uses people think these growth options should include.

4.16 During the Masterplanning Consultation stage, within the 94 submissions respondents suggested that a range of income and infrastructure land uses should be included in any growth proposals. The type and number of times each land use was selected is shown below:

Income Uses	No	Infrastructure Uses	No
Market Housing	132	Roads	223
Shopping Area	118	Nature Site	112
Social Housing	86	Solar / Wind Farm	103
Eco Homes	81	Woodland	70
Offices	57	Leisure	58
Total Income Uses	474	Green Space	49
		GP Surgery	42
		Western Park	37
		Recycling Centre	34
		Sports Playing Pitch	27
		Primary School	27
		Skills College	26
		Total Infrastructure Uses	808

4.17 The Council will be guided by this consultation feedback in any preferred growth option but we are open to further suggestions about what any growth proposal should include for the benefit of Shirebrook.

Respond to this section >

Shirebrook Town Centre

Better Quality and Range of Markets

4.18 As indicated in section 2, the Council’s preparation of the Shirebrook Growth Plan is also focussing on how Shirebrook Town Centre can be enhanced to both support and benefit from any additional growth planned for the town.

4.19 During the previous consultations on the Growth Plan, in relation to Shirebrook’s Town Centre and Market Place you told us:

Reasons you like Shirebrook Town Centre

availability of car parking;
convenient bus stops.

Reasons you don’t like Shirebrook Town Centre

poor choice of shops and services;
unpleasant shopping environment;
traffic entering the pedestrianised Market Place.

Things that could be done to improve the town centre

better quality and range of markets;
higher quality paving and street furniture;
more events in the town centre;
greater variety of shops;
more pubs / restaurants.

4.20 We have already started to take forward some of these suggestions through our Shirebrook Market Place: REimagined project, which seeks to significantly improve the physical and environmental quality of the Market Place to make this important civic space better used and more frequently visited.

4.21 Detailed plans have been prepared for a range of physical works (see below) and external funding has been secured for the first phase of these. This will see the resurfacing of the area around the new Mining Memorial and between it and Market Street in early 2024. New trees, benches and other street furniture will be added to create two new Memorial Gardens and improvement works to the bus stop area and shelters will also take place.

4.22 Beyond this first phase, it is planned that the resurfacing of the rest of the Market Place and new boundary treatment to provide greater control of vehicle access will be implemented when further external funding can be secured.

4.23 In addition, proposals for a new commercial building that would include new public toilets and market stall lockup facilities is also being considered.

Shirebrook Market Place: REimagined project proposals

4.24 The Council, together with partners like Shirebrook Town Council, consider that the Shirebrook Market Place: REimagined project proposals will significantly improve the physical and environmental quality of the Market Place.

4.25 Beyond this, the Council is interested in knowing what people think about the other suggestions made during the previous consultations on things that could be done to improve the Shirebrook town centre, or if other ideas exist that should be considered.

4.26 Each of the suggestions made during the previous consultations is set out below, together with a brief explanation of how they might help contribute to improving Shirebrook Town Centre.

Better quality and range of markets

4.27 Shirebrook is fortunate to have a busy market that operates on four days of the week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with traders coming to the market from around both the local and regional area. The market is managed by Shirebrook Town Council and they co-ordinate the relevant permits and licences with the individual traders.

4.28 To achieve a better quality and range of markets, Shirebrook Town Council could seek to invite or pay providers to bring speciality markets, such as continental, music or food and drink events to Shirebrook, either to take place on an existing market day or on one of the days not currently used.

4.29 Such a speciality market would offer something extra and out-of-the-ordinary to the town centre that would hopefully attract more people to the town centre and generate additional footfall for the other traders and shops. However, there would be likely to be a cost to this, both to attract the speciality market and also to organise and promote the event. Therefore, Shirebrook Town Council would need to have sufficient confidence that speciality markets would be of interest to enough people to make this idea value for money.

4.30 To help gauge the level of interest in pursuing better quality and range of markets, the questions here ask for your views on this idea.

More events in the town centre

4.31 Beyond the market, it would be possible to hold other events in the town centre, such as outdoor cinema and theatre, sports and music events, circus workshops, beer festivals, historical or cycling events.

4.32 These kind of events would offer something extra and out-of-the-ordinary to the town centre that would hopefully attract more people to the town centre and generate additional footfall for the other traders and shops. However, they would be likely to take significant effort to organise but the Council could potentially lead on these in partnership with Shirebrook Town Council and other partners. Volunteers to assist in helping organise such events would increase the chance of making them happen.

4.33 To help gauge the level of interest in pursuing more events in the town centre, the questions here ask for your views on this idea.

Greater variety of shops in the town centre

4.34 The type and variety of shops located in a town centre in a ‘market economy’ is largely the product of what the local demand for goods and services is in a place. However, this part of the ‘market economy’ is changing as a response to the changes in how people buy goods and services, such as increased online shopping, which see money often go to national or international retailers instead of local ones.

4.35 This is a national trend but we are finding that the health and vitality of our town and local centres is being challenged as the local shops see less custom and less money spent in them.

4.36 This challenging picture makes attracting a greater variety of shops to the town centre more difficult, although a growing population in a town should support both the existing shops and the attractiveness of Shirebrook to new businesses.

4.37 To help gauge the level of interest in different types of shops, the questions here ask for your views on this idea.

More pubs /restaurants in the town centre

4.38 Similar to the above, the type and variety of pubs and restaurants and other places that you can visit to eat and drink in the town centre in the evening is largely the product of what the local demand for goods and services is in a place. This part of the ‘market economy’ is also changing but where there is demand backed up by a willingness and ability to spend money on eating out, pubs and restaurants will open and thrive.

4.39 The balance between eating and drinking establishments and other town centre uses needs to be carefully managed, as well as the potential for associated anti-social behaviour problems, but national planning rules and policy has changed to make it easier for pubs, restaurants and other related establishments to open in town centres. As such, the Council could seek to encourage new eating and drinking establishments to the town centre.

4.40 To help gauge the level of interest in new eating and drinking establishments, the questions here ask for your views on this idea.

Respond to this section >

Green Spaces and the Countryside

4.41 As indicated in section 2, the Council’s preparation of the Shirebrook Growth Plan is also focussing on how Shirebrook’s green spaces and wider environment can be enhanced to both support and benefit from any additional growth planned for the town.

4.42 During the previous consultations on the Growth Plan, in relation to Green Spaces and the Countryside you told us:

Reasons you like Shirebrook’s green spaces

they are good for recreational walking;
they are good for kicking a ball around;
they are well maintained.

Reasons you don’t like Shirebrook’s green spaces

poor quality Equipped Play Areas;
poor maintenance;
poor for recreational walking.

Thoughts about walking and cycling around Shirebrook

reasonable level of countryside footpaths but not always good quality;
some cycle paths but not enough and not always good quality.

Thoughts about tackling climate change in Shirebrook

reasonable support for more solar panels;
reasonable support for more tree planting.

Green Spaces, Footpaths and Cycle Paths

4.43 To explore this matter further, the Council is interested in knowing in more detail about what people think about specific green spaces, footpaths and cycle paths in Shirebrook so that consideration can be given to developing improvement plans for them. Question 8 below asks for your views on this.

New Green Spaces or Recreational Facilities

4.44 The Council is also interested in what type of green spaces or recreational facilities people think could be included in the preferred growth option.

4.45 During the Masterplanning Consultation stage, within the 94 submissions respondents suggested that a range of income and infrastructure land uses should be included in any growth proposals. The type and number of times each land use was selected is shown below:

Income Uses	No	Infrastructure Uses	No
Market Housing	132	Roads	223
Shopping Area	118	Nature Site	112
Social Housing	86	Solar / Wind Farm	103
Eco Homes	81	Woodland	70
Offices	57	Leisure	58
Total Income Uses	474	Green Space	49
		GP Surgery	42
		Western Park	37
		Recycling Centre	34
		Sports Playing Pitch	27
		Primary School	27
		Skills College	26
		Total Infrastructure Uses	808

4.46 The Council will be guided by this consultation feedback in any preferred growth option but we are open to further suggestions about what type of green spaces or recreational facilities people think could be included in the preferred growth option

Taking steps to tackle climate change in Shirebrook

4.47 As one of the largest settlements in Bolsover District, Shirebrook could both be more affected by the effects of climate change but also contribute more to the efforts of tackling climate change.

4.48 Tackling climate change in Shirebrook would need to see efforts to reduce day-to-day carbon emissions from people living, working and visiting Shirebrook, such as better insulated buildings, more energy generated by renewable means like solar panels and fewer journeys in vehicles fuelled by non-renewable fossil fuels. It would also need efforts to remove levels of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, such as by planting more trees.

4.49 The national picture demonstrates that making the changes needed to reduce day-to-day carbon emissions won’t be easy. However, making the changes to adapt to a warmer and more unpredictable climate will not be easy either.

4.50 The Council and national government can help to a degree by making the necessary changes as easy as possible but efforts will be needed from all quarters of society. To explore this matter further, the Council is interested in knowing in more detail about whether people want to take steps to tackle climate change in Shirebrook or explore what steps they could take. Question 10 below asks for your views on this.

Locations for additional tree planting

4.51 With regard to tree planting, the Council is running the Bolsover Community Woodlands project which seeks to create new community woodlands and increase the number of trees being planted across Bolsover District. Within Shirebrook, this project is funding the tree planting within the Market Place but could potentially also fund more tree planting around Shirebrook.

4.52 To explore this matter further, the Council is interested in your suggestions for where additional tree planting could be directed in or around Shirebrook the questions here ask for your views on this idea.

Respond to this section >

5) Next stages and the Growth Plan preparation timetable

5.1 The purpose of this document is to set out the Council’s identified Growth Options and to seek more feedback on potential development sites as well as on how Shirebrook’s Town Centre and Green Spaces, Footpaths and Cycle Paths can be improved and on how we can all take steps to tackle climate change.

5.2 The Council will consider the consultation responses on this Consultation Shirebrook Growth Plan before approving its final version for adoption.

5.3 In accordance with the adopted Local Development Scheme (as amended), the Council will seek to adopt its final Shirebrook Growth Plan in June 2024.

Time to have your say! >

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