Keith reported that he will be continuing to liaise with the Borough Council to hopefully start the process of obtaining Fields in Trust status for the field to try to ensure the protection of our green space for future generations to enjoy.

The secretary read from an article in the local magazine which stated that “there is no government requirement to provide public parks. Every year much-loved parks are being lost all over the UK to development or neglect and there is no statutory protection at all for public green spaces so it is left to organisations like Field in Trust to ensure that they are not sold or built on.”

It was pointed out that we have two letters from the Borough Council one dated 24 July 2017 stating the “refurbished play area will remain in place and be maintained for at least 15 years.” The other dated 28 February 2018 stating “I am fully supportive of your project to improve footpaths and drainage within WPF. This is an excellent project and will greatly improve access to the park for many local people. The Council gives an undertaking that the new footpath will remain in place and be maintained for at least a 15 year period.”

These letters, however, do not give a guarantee for the rest of the field.

Treasurer’s Report

Josie confirmed that Friends of Whitecotes Playing Field currently has a balance of £1615.76 in their bank account. £1500.00 of this being a grant received from Derbyshire County Council towards further improvements to the field.

Secretary’s Report

· There have been some reports of motor bike nuisance once again in the field. These incidents have been reported by those witnessing the problem to the 101 number which has triggered a response from the local PCSO team who now seem to be patrolling around the area on a regular basis.

Please continue to report any incidents to 101.

· It was agreed that the CCTV and motor bike signs which warned all off-road motorcyclists their bikes would be seized if being ridden in the area had been effective. Requests for more of these signs to be erected around field.

· A request had been made for the Borough Council to replace the old notice on the fenced play area with an updated one some time ago, this is still being chased.

· Although the self-close gate on the children’s play area, which has only been in situ since 2018 has been repaired by the Council, it is unfortunately being caught up on the higher ground when opened fully. To be reported.

· A request for the dog fouling stencils to be redone has been made.

· Several people had commented on the new orchard, which has plum, cherry, apple and pear trees. The fruits of these trees can be picked by the local community to enjoy.

Communication

The question of the best way to keep in touch with the local community regarding the field was discussed. One of the apps available which seems popular is the “nextdoor – Your Boythorpe/Whitecotes neighbours” which enables members of the community to make others aware of what is happening in the area.

Items Received for Discussion on Agenda

Grass Cutting

The matter of grass cutting had been raised as the standard of work by that team which has been excellent over the last two to three years seems to have fallen. The grass cuttings are left to rot in place, making the bottom field very hard to play football on. The grass around the children’s play area was so long that you could not see the stepping stone play equipment, which could have caused an accident. Instead of strimming, as had been the usual code of practice, the high grass under the benches etc was tackled with weed killer, the use of which was questioned by one of those present, particularly where children and dogs are, notwithstanding the environmental impact.

The tall brambles growing at head height over the path leading from Whitecotes Park into the field have been cut down by one of the residents down there.

Graffiti

Request to be made to the council to clean off the graffiti which is currently on equipment in the fenced play area.

Drain

Piddles by Cemetery gate A request has been made for the drain by the cemetery gate to be cleared of debris and investigate why there are still some problems with water in that area. Thankfully nothing like how it was before the paths.

It was explained that Friend of Whitecotes had engaged the Cemetery Department in talks to discuss their having a tarmac path to join up with our proposed one. Eventually after several weeks, the committee finally agreed to the new path, after being shown the photograph opposite and realising that people were having to negotiate this area by walking between the graves, making matters even worse.

Path from Whitecotes Close to Playground

Two requests had been received for the provision of a path from Whitcotes Close to join up with the playground.

It was pointed out that at the time of raising funds (approximately £48,000) for the three paths we now have eg the green path running down the centre of the field, the tarmac path to the cemetery gate and the tarmac path joining Whitecotes Park to Hucklow Avenue, we were also looking for authorisation from the Borough Council to allow us to raise funding for a path from Whitecotes Close. However, as owners of the field they were not on board with this idea, as in the words of the Principal Green Space Strategy Officer at the time “in regard to path B (the Whitecotes Close one) finding the capital when they (the borough Council) are not seeing growth in their budget means that they have to take a view of the most used route to adopt to enable their maintenance liability to be fulfilled.”

If there was now shown to be enough support from local residents for this decision to be re-considered, we could look to approach the Council again, but we would definitely have to prove an overwhelming need for this by the community in order to have a chance of overturning their decision.

Chesterfield Borough Council

According to the Borough Council’s website they were awarded 2.693 million from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) which, along with a combination of other funding, including the Valencia Communities Fund and the Community Infrastructure Levy, will be spent across the borough on various projects running until 24/25 including:-

· improvements to local parks, greens spaces and outdoor sports facilities to provide residents with even better access to quality outdoor facilities across the borough.

We therefore received some good news from the Borough Council about four weeks ago. They confirmed that they are now able to fund the tarmac for the Table Tennis Table, which they had already earmarked for us last year, so hopefully this equipment will be installed later this year.

We can now utilise the £1500 funding we had received from Derbyshire County Council, towards the tarmac, for other items instead.

A short discussion took place on this and it was agreed to investigate the possibility of purchasing another picnic bench and one item of adult exercise equipment, subject to the approval of the Borough Council and their being able to instal this equipment for us.

Any Other Business

The possibility of turning the scrub area into a wild flower meadow was brought up by one of those present. This was something that the FoW had looked into when the committee was first formed back in 2016. However, although a “wild flower meadow” sounds easy enough, it does involve a lot of work eg the area would have to be cleared for a start. On contacting Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for guidance, we were advised to leave this area alone, as there is an abundance of thistles, along with the blackthorn bushes, which provide a rich source of food for a large variety of insects, including bees and birds.

Bee Squared

Hedge with Bee Squeare plaque The secretary said that she had seen an article by the Holymoorside and Walton Parish Council who had brought to local attention a project which was started by Hazlemere Parish Council, Buckinghamshire in 2021. The idea is to encourage the planting of wild flower seeds across the community, that will brighten up our local environment and help our bees and other pollinators. There are enough seeds in each packet of wild flower seeds to make a square metre display of wild flowers – a “Bee Square.” Perhaps we could all play our part in giving over a square metre to these precious pollinators.

Date of Next Meeting – To be confirmed.