Minutes of the Forum Meeting held on Tuesday, 15^th April 2026,
Manor Room, Buttery Lane, Teversal Village, NG17 3JN

1.    Attendance.

Andrew Jenkins (Chair), Geoff Snare (Secretary), Richard Goad, Doug Edwards, Lis Reid, Jane Cooper, Lis Reid, Steve Murray, Catherine Mason, Chris Goodall, Jackie Bailey, George Watson, Margaret Renshaw
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Apologies:   Janine Vardy, Mike Vardy, Sallie Vardy, Jan Jenkins, Victoria Crossley
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Andrew Jenkins welcomed everyone to the meeting

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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.

The Treasurer was unable to attend the meeting, but her written report advised that since the last meeting there had been no transactions .

The bank balance remains at £7,073.13, which is split:

The report was accepted by the meeting.

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4.    Reports from Working Groups

Planning & Environment

The Planning Inspectors report into the revised Ashfield District Council (ADC) Local Plan included a number of both major and minor issues that needed to be addressed by ADC. It is believed that the council has up to six months to make the necessary amendments.
None of the required changes will have a direct impact on the existing plans for residential development in the Forum area, since all major sites have  already been agreed or approved (on appeal), however the continuing lack of a statutory Local Plan allows further speculative planning applications from developers.
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The developers of the new housing site off Fackley Road (Teversal Green) had written to a local resident in response to an inquiry, as follows:
“Our first phase will take 2-3 years roughly, and we have put in planning for a second phase. The through road for this will be by plot 81 on the map.”

One of the objections raised by the Forum at the planning appeal against this development was that the site would get bigger as they were leaving 2 access points to the other fields to the north and north west of the existing site. The developers, Persimmon, categorically denied this would happen.
It is believed there is room for at least another 200 houses.
Once the new Planning Application has been received the Forum will be responding accordingly.

The Forum has sent in an objection to the proposed additional 5 houses on Silverhill Lane on land adjacent to Heathfield.

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Jane Cooper advised that no action had yet been taken by the Environment Agency over the issue adjacent to the traveller’s site off Chesterfield Road in Huthwaite
Lee Anderson has responded to her communication to him and is chasing the E.A.
The original debris appears to have been dug into the earth beneath, but has now been replaced by large amounts of computers and related items.
Jane will continue to monitor the situation.

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Friends of Stanton Hill (FOSH) – Andrew Jenkins

The Co-op garden is looking very good thanks to the hard work of Doug and Vera, and thankfully they now have some additional volunteer help.
The mural for the wall behind the garden is currently awaiting approval from ADC regarding the fee payable to the artist.

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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 will be meeting with the Regional Mayor’s transport group in the near future, also in attendance will be a representative from Derbyshire – very important given the proximity to the county boundary and the likelihood of bus routes straddling that boundary.
It has been reported that the punctuality of the 141 service had improved significantly in recent months, following representations by the Group.
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The Vine Tree are organising a children’s summer event to be held on Saturday June 6^th on Brand Lane. The Forum will be in attendance to promote Friends of Stanton Hill, the community garden and the Bus Service Improvement Plan.
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The Stanton Hill Rainbow Community Garden committee has been meeting regularly and there are now around 8 or 9 attendees at each meeting.
Committee members visit the Pleasley Community Orchard, which is a great example of what can be achieved.
Fencing for the garden has been agreed (funded by ADC) and a contractor appointed, who is waiting for supplies to become available
Turfing and seeding will take place in September.
A lawyer has been approached to review the lease agreement with East Midlands Housing.
Public Liability insurance is required and this will made available through an extension to the Forum’s own insurance. This will cost around £200 for the remainder of this year and a grant application to Sutton Rotary has been made for this.
Cllr Cathy Mason agreed to fund the insurance cost for next year.
The next meeting of the community garden committee will be on June 18^th, at 5.30 in the Vine Tree shop.

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It was proposed that the Stanton Hill signs into the village be replaced with more welcoming signs, for example “Welcome to Stanton Hill village”.
Cllr Mason agreed to obtain a price for the potential new signs.
The location of the signs was also questioned, since it is possible they are not on the boundary of Stanton Hill
Cllr Mason agreed to check with Notts C.C.

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It was suggested that some small improvements to the High Street, such as painting the notice board and adding some planters and/or hanging baskets could make a big difference. These will be raised at the next meeting of the Stanton Hill Improvement Plan (SHIP) Delivery group.

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Cllr Mason advised that she had made donations in support of the Vine Tree summer and Christmas events. She also advised that she had requested priority be given to the resurfacing of Stoneyford Road from The New Cross up to Quarrydale school.

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Concern was raised about the traffic lights at the junction of Brand Lane / Stoneyford Road, where there is a risk to pedestrians crossing Brand Lane, from traffic turning into Brand Lane. It was suggested that the traffic lights should include a Pelican Crossing. This should also be raised with the SHIP Delivery Group.

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Cllr Mason was requested to raise the issue of the FixMyStreet phone app with the highways department at Notts C.C. – FixMyStreet is a very easy to use free phone app that allows users to raise issues (potholes, fly-tipping, street lights, etc) to their local council without having to know the correct council to contact (Notts or Derby, District or County) – Notts C.C. are one of the few councils that do not support issues raised on FixMyStreet

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Heritage – Lynn Henstock

Still no decision has been made on the appeal by the owners of the Spring Cottage / Whiteboro Farm site against the enforcement notice

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Temporary closure of Footpath 35 from its junction between Bridleways 148 and its junction with FP36 (approx 500 metres) required to protect public safety due to badly damaged footbridge over the R. Meden to August 2026

Continuation Order re Temporary closure of Bridleways - until 24th October 2026. 

1)From Buttery Lane Skegby towards Pleasley

2) From Buttery Lane Skegby towards Teversal Visitor Centre.

Closure required to protect public safety due to dangerous condition of several overbridges.

Temporary closure of unregistered footpaths between Stoneyford Road and Gilcroft Street until November 2026, or until completion of works, to protect public safety and facilitate approved housing development.

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Climate Change & Sustainability – Andrew Jenkins

Food Share continues to go well with two new volunteers helping out.
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5.   Community Energy Project (CEP) – Andrew Jenkins

Applications for stage 2 funding will be open very soon and our consultants, Savi, are preparing a draft application to be available to us in the next few days.
Stage 2 is where we flesh out the detail plans for our project and also establish the separate (from the Forum) organisation that will own and manage the projects going forward.
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 May 2nd.
https://teversalrepaircafe.org.uk/

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7.    Any Other Business

The issue of electric bikes speeding on roads and on the trails was raised, this had been raised with our PCSO at a previous meeting, but we were told it was “not a priority”.
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Cllr Mason advised that she had provided funding for a Forces Veterans Club and also for a Literacy Volunteer at Skegby Junior Academy
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A Forum member advised that Notts C.C. are providing funding for the removal of sprayfoam loft insulation, if it had been installed in the last 5 years

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The Forum secretary agreed to request a meeting with Brierley Park medical practice to discuss Lis Reid’s document on health provision in the Forum area. Lis to provide an executive summary for sending with the meeting request.

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An enquiry about the existence (or otherwise) of a woodworking workshop on the Brierley Park industrial estate was made, in particular regarding the building of planters for Stanton Hill High Street – Andrew confirmed that this does exist and the site is leased and used by Ashfield Community Enterprise: he will send the contact details of Teresa Jackson at Ashfield Voluntary Action who manages it, so this can be taken up with her.

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8.    Next Meeting.

The next Forum meeting, will be held on Tuesday July 14^th, 2026 from 7.00 pm, in the Healdswood Community Centre, Skegby Road, NG17 3EE
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Attendees, in particular Cllr Cathy Mason, were thanked for their input to the meeting which closed at 8.30 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