Bolsover District Council’s Leader and Deputy Leader have both announced that they are retiring after amassing more than a combined 90 years of experience in local government serving the community.
Outgoing leader, Coun Steve Fritchley, and outgoing deputy leader, Coun Duncan McGregor, have had to weather recent criticism concerning comments made by CounFritchley regarding former MP Mark Fetcher and with Coun McGregor’s links to a costly parish council-run Creswell leisure centre but their years of service have been well recognised and applauded.
Coun Fritchley, of the Labour-led council, said: “I am thankful for the support given to me, but colleagues there comes a time for change and that change is today. I am retiring as Leader as soon as you have selected a new one. I want to place on record my thanks to Coun McGregor for his support and partnership.”
Both councillors were appointed as leader and deputy leader following the district council elections in 2019 when the council was in no overall control and they gained the support of socially independent councillors to gain control and form a cross-party cabinet. During six years their many achievements include investing over £20m in refurbishing, extending and redeveloping six independent living schemes for elderly residents and investing £36m in building new council properties.
Other successful projects have included helping to bring in £15m of regeneration funding for the district, starting work on a £9.6m Roseland Park and Crematorium in Shirebrook, and overseeing a £10m refurbishment of New Bolsover Model Village. They have also implemented a new CCTV monitoring suite for the district, invested in leisure facilities, brought the burgundy bin service in-house after the collapse of a contractor, and made and kept to their promise of no staff redundancies.
The pair also guided the council through the Covid-19 pandemic and helped to distribute £20m worth of grants. Coun Fritchley revealed in December he was expecting to make an announcement after he had insisted he was ‘truly regretful’ after a comment he made had been perceived as ‘homophobic language’ concerning former Conservative Bolsover MP Mark Fletcher.
The Labour councillor, who oversees the Langwith ward, was ‘administratively suspended’ by the Labour Party over the issue and he became the subject of a council investigation in relation to a complaint that he had made a ‘homophobic slur’ about Mr Fletcher.
A further independent investigation found Coun Fritchley was not homophobic but the language he had used could have been perceived as such and that he had therefore breached principles and a code of conduct. The investigation revealed former Levelling Up Under Secretary Jacob Young had initially made reference to Peter, Paul and Mary’s song Puff the Magic Dragon during a video link meeting with the council when the former Bolsover MP Mark Fletcher had been smoking a vape and this reference was later repeated by Coun Fritchley.
Coun Fritchley, who suffers with a lung condition, told a December 4 council meeting that over the Christmas season he intended to ‘give some thought to the future’ and he intended to express ‘his intentions’ this month. Following the launch of the investigation into claims Coun Fritchley had made a ‘homophobic slur’ he also stepped down as a director of the council’s Dragonfly Development Ltd company before announcing his retirement as leader on January 14.
Dragonfly Development Ltd has already overseen much of the council’s successful building projects but it has attracted disputed concerns from some members of the public about possible alleged conflicts of interest with the mixing a commercial company with a public authority’s work.
But Coun Fritchley has always argued there was and is no conflict of interest with Dragonfly and the council has stated the councillors on the board of directors do not receive a wage or any extra remuneration and their role is to make decisions on how best to run the company in line with shareholder agreement objectives.
And the council has praised Coun Fritchley and Coun McGregor after they set up the Dragonfly Development Ltd to build new homes, regenerate the area and generate income for the council.
Coun McGregor, who is also an Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Councillor, has been linked to the parish council’s running of the Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre, on Colliery Road, which has been operating at a growing loss after it borrowed £2m from the Public Loans Board to complete the centre scheme and Bolsover District Council’s development company Dragonfly had to finish the project.
It has been reportedly running at a growing loss with money owed to both the Public Loans Board and Bolsover District Council after it originally opened in April, 2023, and struggled through a difficult economic climate forcing the council to increase its council tax precept for the 2024/25 financial year by 93.2per cent to help with the centre’s running and equipment costs, wages and bills.
The original £3m project for the Creswell centre, near Worksop, was funded through Bolsover District Council, Elmton-with-Creswell Parish Council, Derbyshire County Council, Viridor, and the Big Local and Bolsover Partnership. However, Coun McGregor, was honoured by the district council in December with a lifetime achievement award and he was praised by Council Chairperson, ConTom Munro, for his tireless work over the last 40 years.
Coun McGregor said: “It has been my pleasure to stand with Steve for the past six years as his deputy. What we have achieved in such a short space of time should not be underestimated and everything we said we would do we have done for the benefit of our communities.”
Coun Fritchley has also suggested that the recent Government announcement on Local Government Reform involving the proposed introduction of a unitary council for Derbyshire with the merger of district and borough councils and a new mayor means big changes are ahead and the council ‘needed to be prepared’.
He said: “I have said for years we are over-governed and something needed to change and that change is coming – and fast.
“Within the next few years, it is likely that Bolsover District Council will no longer exist and will become part of a much bigger authority with the directly elected Mayor for the East Midlands holding the purse strings and wielding the power and we need to be prepared.”
The outgoing council leader has been a councillor since 1984 and has been the council’s leader since 2019. He added: “The past ten years both as Cabinet Member and Leader has been an interesting journey and one that has made me proud of you all and all the staff at Bolsover District Council.
“I would like you to commit to protecting all our employees and services as we look towards the future and Local Government Reorganisation.”
The council has stated that a new Leader will be appointed at a full council meeting, on Wednesday, January 29.