Eager residents await planning decision on £24.1m Clay Cross Town Deal regeneration scheme

The Clay Cross Deal Town Board which was constituted in January, 2020, has been working hard in an advisory role to help put together the overall £24.1m scheme and a planning application for the scheme was submitted in August to NE Derbyshire District Council’s planning committee for consideration.

A NE Derbyshire District Council spokesperson has stated: “Our vision for a transformed Clay Cross is one of a thriving, industrious and sustainable market town, built on a strong and vibrant community spirit and a unique heritage.”

Clay Cross was selected as one of 100 towns across England to receive a share of £3.6bn from the Government to go towards a regeneration scheme and in March, 2021, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was then the Chancellor, announced Clay Cross would receive £24.1m of funding to deliver projects contained in a Clay Cross Town Investment Plan.

A council spokesperson stated this would help increase the skills and productivity of the town’s workforce, improve access to a range of jobs and training opportunities and improve the environmental quality of the town.

The planning application features four main parts including a new town square, food, beverage and leisure units along the route from Broadleys to the town square, a Derbyshire Adult Education Centre called the Clocktower, and plans to repurpose an existing historic building with food, drink and leisure opportunities.

Clay Cross Town Board members have also been overseeing a number of other exciting projects for the town as part of the Town Deal including the following plans.

A Market Street Regeneration project will involve the redevelopment of land at Market Street and Bridge Street with retail and commercial units and car parking areas to create a mixed use workspace development with leisure facilities and a small town square events space.

The Bridge Street – Smithy Street project will add vibrancy to key corridors between the heart of the town centre at Market Street, along Bridge Street, towards Tesco and to the Aldi supermarket on High Street.

In addition, the Clay Cross Creative project will act as a focal point for arts and social programmes engaging with the community and young people with creative, artisan and social enterprises.

The planned Clay Cross Skills and Enterprise Hub will also involve the refurbishment of the existing Adult Education Centre and the development of new learning space alongside the existing accommodation, to provide a training and a learning hub.

Work also got underway in March on a scheme to build a new Clay Cross Active Leisure Centre, at Sharley Park Leisure Centre, where residents can exercise and access health and well-being services.

Council leader Nigel Barker said he was delighted with plans to transform the Sharley Park Leisure Centre which he added would have struggled without the Town Deal.

NE Derbyshire District Council was also pleased to announce in September that £1.9m of funding from Sport England will support the development of the new Clay Cross Active Leisure Centre which is hopefully to be opened by the winter of 2024.

North East Derbyshire District Council Cabinet Member for Health and Leisure, Cllr Kathy Rouse said: “We are genuinely delighted to have Sport England on board as a partner and are grateful for their funding contribution to help deliver this fantastic project.

“Their support and expertise has ensured the new centre meets the needs of the community and includes learning from other new build leisure centres from across the country.”

Expressions of interest are already being welcomed from cafe and restaurant bosses and business people as the Clay Cross Town Deal aims to bring food and beverage and leisure units to the town as part of its regeneration plans.

A council spokesperson stated: “It’s very much about business growth and economic growth and start-up businesses and getting a vibrancy into Clay Cross.”

The Clay Cross Town Board recently opted not to pursue a vehicle access and car parking scheme for Clay Cross with a route to a main car park off the A61 High Street after considering concerns about the potential impact on the heritage of the area and the need to ensure any planning application would be successful.

However, the Clay Cross Town Board has produced a Rail Feasibility Study and has rubber-stamped a Clay Cross Railway Station Strategic Outline Business Case blueprint which can be used to campaign for funding to hopefully one day provide a proposed £21.8m railway station for the town.

Cllr Barker said NE Derbyshire MP Lee Rowley deserves credit for helping to put together the Rail Feasibility Study.

He added: “It does move us up the ladder if there is money that becomes available for Clay Cross. This is something to look at. It will be great for Clay Cross.”

The Government has also announced plans for a new Barrow Hill passenger railway line, in north Derbyshire, which had previously run through Clay Cross, Whittington, Barrow Hill, Staveley, Renishaw, Eckington and Killamarsh.

An original business case report identified a proposed location for the Barrow Hill Line to run between Sheffield, north east Derbyshire and Chesterfield’s local authority areas which may also support Clay Cross.

In addition, despite the Government recently announcing it plans to scrap the northern leg of the HS2 scheme, it has pledged to invest £36.5bn Network North funding into transport, roads, railways and tramlines across the north of England.

NE Derbyshire MP Lee Rowley highlighted how Government funding had been won for both the £24.1m Clay Cross Town Deal as well as for the neighbouring £25.2m Staveley Town Deal.

He also pointed out separate helpful plans for a new banking hub at Clay Cross based at the former Fultons Food discount supermarket on The Parade at Bridge Street woud support the town.

Mr Rowley said “The winning of the Barrow Hill Line is the icing on the cake of several years of success for north east Derbyshire in terms of infrastructure.”

He added: “We’re going to keep pushing the proposals for a new train station at Clay Cross, and the Staveley bypass. ”

The Clay Cross Town Deal aims to support employment, connectivity, low carbon housing, a low carbon energy network strategy, and a low carbon workplace which has been earmarked for two sites at on Bridge Street, and Coney Green.

A NE Derbyshire District Council spokesperson stated that the council’s vision for Clay Cross should be ‘forged around a renewed heart that responds to the aspirations of a growing population with a future founded on enterprise, skills and learning, innovation and low carbon technology’.

The Clay Cross Town Deal Board includes representatives from public, private, voluntary and community organisations including NE Derbyshire District Councillors, the Clay Cross Town Centre Group, Derby University, Chesterfield College, Derbyshire County Council, MP Lee Rowley and business people.

NE Derbyshire District Council – the accountable body for the Clay Cross Town Deal – submitted its planning application for the Town Deal in the summer to the district council’s planning committee which is expected to make a decision on whether to approve the scheme possibly around the end of the year.