Place scrutiny committee - Q&A

[Transition Town Chesterfield]

hi all

Big thanks to those who submitted questions to DCC's Place Scrutiy committee this week. Kara, Nigel and I attended the meeting so were allowed supplementary questions. Below are the Q&A (but not the supplementary Q&A which still need to be added). 

Apart from Gez's valiant efforts, there wasn't a lot of scrutiny going on at scrutiny committee but he did manage after the meeting to get a commitment to publish the detailed actions relating to the various priorities. The response to Anne's and Linda's questions are worrying and almost laughable. Hopefully we can follow up on some of this at the next coalition meeting. Thanks, Lisa

Place Scrutiny Committee: 13 May 2026

Public Questions

Question 1

Lisa Hopkinson, on behalf of Transition Chesterfield (will be attending)

What is the Council planning to do in terms of identifying the impact of current and future climate risks and hazards from climate change and is the Council looking at the risks and costs of different climate warming scenarios e.g. 2C, 3C, 4C warming?

Officer Response

The Council has undertaken significant work to understand the risks of potential future warming scenarios and the Environmental Sustainability Policy (agreed in November 2025) recognises the need to prepare for adverse and extreme weather for the sake of both council services and Derbyshire’s communities.

In 2025 the Council assessed risks as part of its voluntary response to Defra’s Adaptation Reporting Power 4 (ARP4). This used the Local Partnerships Adaptation Toolkit for Local Authorities, considered the impact of 2^o and 4^oC temperature rise and identified risks to the Council through discussions with departments and service areas. Risks are managed through the corporate risk register and actions have been assigned to key service areas, e.g. the Public Health team, Property team, Flood and Emergency Planning teams.

Council officers work closely with officers from district, borough, city and county councils and EMCCA through the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Local Authorities Energy Partnership on appropriate resilience plans and will seek funding for local action.

Cost estimates of different scenarios have not been developed.

Question 2

Anne Robinson (not attending – the Chairman to read out)

The aims of the transport theme are to ‘get around the county safely and conveniently with more sustainable travel choices.’ What actions are proposed to tackle the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on Derbyshire’s roads, especially children? Is the County considering speed reduction measures in residential areas and more School Streets?

Officer Response

The Council is committed to reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on Derbyshire’s roads and is a partner of the Derbyshire and Derby Road Safety Partnership, whose aim is to use a co-ordinated approach to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured.

To achieve this aim, the partnership has the following objectives.

·       To reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on partnership roads each year, working towards a target reduction of 33% by 2030, with a review of progress in 2026.

·       To identify specific road user groups and deliver targeted initiatives to reduce their road safety risk, working collaboratively as a partnership, with the local community and external partners.

The Road Safety Team’s work in schools is guided by the Child Safety Audit, which targets Road Safety Officers to the areas of greatest risk to children to give the greatest impact on casualty reduction.

In highest risk areas the Council runs workshops and provides classroom resource packs for teacher-led workshops.

·       In primary schools (year 1, 3, 5 and 6 pupils) topics including Stop, Look and Listen, Safer Places to Cross and Independent Journeys.

·       In secondary schools (year 7 students, or other year groups as appropriate) topics include independent journey making, risky behaviour, distraction and responsible passengers. Road safety theatre performances are commissioned from professional providers for year 9 students when funding permits.

In lower risk areas the council provides teacher-led resource packs on the following themes:

·       Primary: People Who Help Us, Be Bright Be Seen, independent journeys, distractions and responsible passenger behaviour.

·       Secondary (years 12 and 13): safe driver skills and behaviours, including peer pressure and risk taking.

The Council works with schools in a variety of ways to address traffic around schools, for example through Modeshift STARS, which helps pupils and parents use alternative, sustainable ways to travel to school.

The Council is currently running a trial School Streets project at one school and will evaluate the success of this project in the autumn. This will allow decisions to be made about the viability of the current project and how to consider requests from other schools.

Question 3

Nigel Hudson (will be attending)

What support will the County Council offer to community organisations to develop locally owned clean energy projects, how will this complement the support available from others (including EMCCA, the Midlands Net Zero Hub, Great British Energy, Community Energy England and Energy Local) and how will the Council assess its degree of success in engaging communities, developing new locally-run clean energy schemes, providing income for community organisations and helping reduce local energy costs?

Officer Response

The Council values the work undertaken by community energy organisations both in developing local sources of clean energy and in supporting residents with energy saving projects.

Council Officers work closely with  the organisations referenced and with district and borough councils in support of community energy organisations. There is a well-established understanding of the distinct skills and expertise each organisation contributes.

Council officers meet regularly with the Midlands Net Zero Hub to discuss progress with funding applications from Derbyshire-based organisations and support the Derbyshire Community Energy Hub, which is a network run by Derbyshire Dales Community Energy for the benefit of all community energy organisations in Derbyshire (currently funded by the National Lottery).

The Council supports groups by providing local advice and information; signposting and acting as a critical friend, for example in reviewing funding applications, business plans and writing letters of support for schemes where appropriate .

The Council will assess its success through the number of successful projects developed through funding from Midlands Net Zero Hub or via the Derbyshire Community Energy Hub.

Question 4

Linda Walker (not attending – the Chairman to read out)

Theme 3: Supporting clean, secure energy for Derbyshire

How does DCC define clean energy? Does this include the following: blue hydrogen (hydrogen from natural gas), fracked gas or nuclear?

Officer Response

The Council’s Environmental Sustainability Policy sets the context for how energy sources are considered, i.e. energy generation that reduces pollution, maintains good levels of air quality, makes sustainable use of resources and reduces waste. Clean energy options will be considered on a case-by-case basis to determine whether they meet these criteria.

Question 5

Dr Kara MacRae (will be attending)

Preparing for extreme and adverse weather

(Question below already been asked)

Part 1 - What is the Council planning to do in terms of identifying the impact of current and future climate risks and hazards from climate change? Is the Council looking at the risks and costs of different climate warming scenarios eg 2C, 3C, 4C warming?

Part 2 - As a result of Storm Babet in Oct 2023, over 1,600 properties in Derbyshire were flooded, mostly residential. Due to climate change flooding events are likely to be more severe and more frequent in future. Is the Council planning to look at the potential of Natural Flood Management for the County and the extent to which this can alleviate flood risk?

Officer Response

Part 1 – see previous answer

Part 2 - The Council is very supportive of Natural Flood Management (NfM) as an important way to reduce flooding in Derbyshire and implements NfM where it can through its role as the Lead Local Flood Authority.

The Council is currently progressing three projects through feasibility and delivery (as funding allows) at Breadsall, Renishaw, and Ockbrook/Draycott/Breaston. These projects are at varying levels of readiness and will be dependent on feasibility, landowner agreement and funding success.

The Council secured funding for an NfM officer at Don River Catchment Trust who works towards delivering projects across the north of the County, including at the Council’s Grassmoor Country Park (incorporating scrapes, earth embankments and ponds).

The Council has worked with five schools (primary and secondary) to install sustainable drainage planters for biodiversity and to reduce surface water flooding and is undertaking feasibility work for a larger project at one school, to include planters and other NfM measures which are to be decided. 

Natural flood management is actively promoted as part of the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, Local Nature Recovery Strategy and Derbyshire’s Heartwood Community Forest.

Question 6

Karl Barrow (not attending – the Chairman to read out)

In relation to Theme 2 of the Environmental strategy, ‘using energy, fuel and water efficiently', what specific numeric metrics or  performance indicators will the council use to ensure that progress is measured by clear quantifiable outcomes rather than intermediate outputs and specifically how will the council measure success in its objective of helping households and businesses  to reduce energy costs?

Officer Response

The Council sees energy, fuel and water savings as vital ways of reducing operating costs as well as improving environmental performance.

The Council has measured total energy use (kilowatt hours) in buildings and streetlighting assets since 2009-10 and will continue to measure this and seek a continued ongoing annual reduction in total energy consumed.

The Council also measures annual vehicle mileage by council owned vehicles and split by vehicle type and has done so since 2012. This has allowed the Council to track both the reduction in mileage over time (from over 6 million miles in 2012 to just over 2 million miles in the last assessment) and the move to smaller and more efficient vehicles (where appropriate) to reduce the amount of fuel used. This is now supported by telematics, which provide information on efficient driving styles. The Council is committed to further reducing annual mileage where possible albeit this will be constrained by the need to deliver frontline services.

The Council tracks water use as cubic meters at every site with a water meter and has undertaken water saving investment, for example through externally funded projects.                                                

As a partner in the East Midlands Local Retrofit Strategy the Council will measure the success of helping households reduce energy costs through the outcomes produced by this work. East-Midlands-Local-Retrofit-Strategy-summary.pdf. The Council will also collect data about support delivered by the independent energy charity Marches Energy Advice, supported by the Council through the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Local Authority Energy Partnership.

The Council is supporting proposals for a business support programme to be coordinated via EMCCA and will track progress based on metrics from this programme if successful.