Minutes of the Forum Meeting held on Tuesday, 13th January 2026,
Healdswood Community Centre, Mansfield Road, Skegby, NG17 3EE
1. Attendance.
Andrew Jenkins (Chair), Geoff Snare (Secretary), Victoria Crossley (Treasurer), Jan Jenkins, Richard Goad, Doug Edwards, Lis Reid, Pete Edwards, Steve Murray
Apologies: Lynn Henstock, Jane Cooper, Viv Smith, Mick Smith, Cathy Mason, Janine Vardy
Andrew Jenkins welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular Pete Edwards from Discover Ashfield
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2. Minutes.
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record.
Matters Arising - there were no matters arising
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3. Treasurers Report.
Since the last meeting the only transactions have been to pay the annual public liability insurance premium (£434) and to receive grant money from Notts CC to cover it (£440).
The bank balance now stands at £7,073.13, which is split:
FOSH - £190.40
Repair Café - £47.75
Community Energy Project - £5,764.95
RRR Fund - £270.00
General Funds - £800.03
There were no questions for the Treasurer and the report was accepted by the meeting.
The Forum would like to record their sincere thanks to County Councillor Cathy Mason for arranging the grant to cover the cost of the public liability insurance.
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4. Reports from Working Groups
Planning & Environment - Lis Reid
The re-examination of the Local Plan by the planning inspectors has now been completed and we are awaiting the final report. Members of the Forum participated in public sessions in November, December and January. In particular, Lis and her husband Richard, have dedicated a lot of time to preparing for and attending these public sessions.
Lis advised that the outcome of the re-examination is still unclear - the inspectors could reject the Local Plan, accept it with modifications, or accept it as is.
Unfortunately it is clear that our major concerns regarding the lack of health, education and transport infrastructure to support the significant increase in housing in the Forum area have effectively been ignored in the Local Plan.
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A written report from Jane Cooper advised that she had reported a significant environmental issue adjacent to the traveller’s site off Chesterfield Road in Huthwaite to the Environment Agency (E.A.), and this had also been reported to local MP Lee Anderson, who had also contacted the E.A.
The E.A. had advised that they were investigating the matter.
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Heritage – Lynn Henstock
No decision has been made on the appeal by the owners of the Spring Cottage / Whiteboro Farm site against the enforcement notice; it should be noted that a solar farm, which was granted planning permission in 2015, has now been created on land adjacent to this site which could explain any delay in the decision to remove the track
The planning application for Hardwick View on Wild Hill has been refused, no appeal has been raised so far
ADOPTION OF FOOTPATHS: Applications No 1186 and 1187 - Stoneyford Road to Sutton in Ashfield Footpath No. 49 (by Skegby Hall Gardens)
The 2 footpaths have been affected by the 2 Gleesons housing developments. Any diversions needed to ensure that connections could be maintained at either end, and a legal order needs to be made to divert the paths. Once this is done the adoption process to the ROW definitive map can be completed. Part of the land near Skegby Hall is owned by ADC who still need to dedicate a route across the land by Skegby Hall Gardens to meet with FP49
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Friends of Stanton Hill (FOSH) – Andrew Jenkins
The Stanton Hill Investment Plan Delivery group is meeting monthly and various members of the Forum are members of that group.
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The Stanton Hill Bus Service Improvement Group presented the bus service petition (with over 600 signatures) to Claire Ward, East Midlands Mayor at a meeting in Stanton Hill and have had a number of positive discussions with officials from Notts C.C. on possible bus service improvement options. These same officials will shortly be transferring to the Mayor’s transport group, which is driving the Mayor’s “Big Transport Conversation”.
https://tssneighbourhoodplan.org/busserviceplan/
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The children’s Christmas event at Healdswood Community Centre, organised by the Vine Tree, proved very successful.
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The Stanton Hill Rainbow Community Garden committee has been set up to manage the former allotment site off Brand Lane.
The plot will be split into three areas:
- an area with wooden edged beds for vegetable and flower growing
- an orchard area containing fruit trees and wild flowers
- a picnic area with space for children’s games
ADC are funding a contractor for fencing and turfing (half for play, picnic and beds, and half for orchard).
A “start-up” event is planned for April, look out for advertising flyers and opportunities to get involved
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Climate Change & Sustainability & Public Transport – Andrew Jenkins
The Food Share continues to go well and the take up rate is recovering after the Library closed over the Christmas break.
Our engagement with Nottingham Energy Partnership continues and we have been invited to participate in an online meeting on February 25th to hear details of a case study into retro-fitting insulation into “hard-to-treat” properties such as older houses, listed houses and houses in conservation areas.
You can sign up here: https://www.bit.ly/heathubhopevalley
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5. Community Energy Project (CEP) - Andrew Jenkins
Our consultants, Savi Energy, have confirmed that stage 2 funding should be available from April 2026 and that we should have a very good chance of obtaining funding to take the Community Energy Project to the next stage.
Savi have offered to help us with the application process as soon as documentation is available
The meeting agreed that we should apply for Stage 2 funding and that we accept their offer of help with the application process.
https://tssneighbourhoodplan.org/cep/
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6. Teversal Repair Café - Geoff Snare
The Repair Café events continue to run on the first Saturday of each month at the Teversal Visitor Centre. Our team of volunteers remains rather small, but all are very keen and turn out each month, but we are always looking for additional volunteers. The next event is on February 7th.
https://teversalrepaircafe.org.uk/
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7. Any Other Business
As reported in previous minutes, BP-Lightsource are proposing a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) of Mansfield Road, Tibshelf – adjacent to the M1 – which would provide up to 100Mb of power back into the National Grid at times of peak demand. Although the site is outside of the Forum area, it is immediately adjacent and to offset any potential loss of local amenity the company has offered a grant of £500 per Mb to be given to the Forum for use in the Forum communities most affected, primarily Stanley. They have now also offered an additional grant of £12,500 towards the forum's initiatives to improve infrastructure in the overall Forum area.
Any monies are dependent upon them receiving planning permission and will not be made available until two months after the system is fully operational.
The meeting agreed that the Forum should accept the additional funding and to sign the revised Community Benefit Deed
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Pete Edwards from Discover Ashfield gave an overview of his organisation and his role heading up the Health & Wellbeing Partnership; the meeting was particularly interested in how Pete might be able to help with the Forum’s struggle to get improved medical services for the Forum area;
Pete also outlined the funding that is available through Discover Ashfield and he was also very positive and supportive of the various projects the Forum is undertaking.https://discoverashfield.co.uk/
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Steve Murray asked if the Forum would support the idea of a “Day Out” coach trip for residents of Brand Court and other retirement homes in the area.
He was provided with contact details of someone from A.D.C. who should be able to assist on this.
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Lis Reid advised that she wished to stand down as the lead on the Planning & Environment working group;
The Forum would like to express their sincere thanks to Lis, and her husband Richard, for all their work on planning matters over recent years and in particular their work on the ADC Local Plan inspector review and the effort they have put into representing the Forum at the lengthy review sessions.
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8. Annual General Meeting
Treasurer’s Report
See the regular meeting Treasurer’s report for details of the current bank balance
Election of Officers
No new nominations were received so all three current officers (Chair, Treasurer and Secretary) were re-elected unopposed
Chair - Andrew Jenkins, Treasurer – Victoria Crossley, Secretary – Geoff Snare
Election of Management Committee
No new nominations were received, so all Management Committee members were elected unopposed
Lynn Henstock, Lis Reid, Richard Goad, Jane Cooper, Mike Vardy, Janine Vardy, Doug Edwards, plus the three Officers
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9. Next Meeting
The next Forum meeting, will be held on Wednesday April 15th, 2026 from 7.00 pm, in the Manor Room, Teversal Village
Attendees, in particular Pete Edwards, were thanked for their input to the meeting which closed at 8.45 pm.
The Forum is recognised by Ashfield District Council as the representative body for Skegby, Stanton Hill and Teversal
and Forum working groups are dealing with a number of issues affecting our area.
Anyone who lives or works in Teversal, Stanton Hill and Skegby is entitled to be a member of the Forum and attend its meetings.
To become a Forum member please visit our website