In attendance
| Name | Organisation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Andria Birch (AB) - Chair | Bassetlaw Community and Voluntary Service (BCVS) |
CEO |
| Julie Beresford (JB) | Bassetlaw District Council (BDC) |
Head of Growth & Economic Prosperity |
| Rebecca Bibby (RB) | Bassetlaw District Council (BDC) |
Admin Support Assistant |
| Michelle Cleaver (MC) | Bassetlaw District Council (BDC) |
Programme Officer |
| Karen Whitlam (KW) | Citizens Advice North Nottinghamshire |
CEO |
| Philip Jackson (PJ) | Worksop Business Forum | Chair |
| Nicola Stepehsn (NS) | Nottingham County Council | Non – voting |
| Michael Hirst | Barnsley Premier Leisure | CEO |
| Cllr Steve Scotthorne (SS) | Bassetlaw District Council (BDC) |
Councillor |
| Stephen Marwood (SM) | Environmental Agency | Sustainable Growth Manager |
| Becky Law (BL) | Member of Public | N/A |
| Tina Masters (TM) | Bassetlaw District Council (BDC) |
Media Officer |
| Mel Smith (MS) | RNN Group | Director of Campus |
| Chris Grocock | Futures Group | Head of Business Development |
| James Harrison | MHCLG | Grant Manager |
| Robert Harrison | Nottinghamshire Police | Bassetlaw Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Wildlife Crime and Heritage Crime Officer |
| Sally Gillborn | NNBID | CEO |
| Paul Stuart | East Midlands Chamber of Commerce | Head of Business Support |
| Georgia Crossland | Centre Place | CEO |
Apologies
| Name | Organisation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Gaw | Inspire | CEO |
| Cllr Walker-Gurley | Nottinghamshire County Council |
Councillor |
| Craig Taylor | Bassetlaw District Council | Assistant Chief Executive / Director of Regeneration & Neighbourhoods |
| Jo-Bradley Fortune | YMCA | Director of Corporate Development and Fundraising at Nottinghamshire YMCA |
Action Table
| Previous Actions | Undertaken By | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 Review COI disclosure timeframe | MC | Complete - new forms being sent out |
| 5.1 follow-up with the relevant team to discuss usage of street cleansing equipment. | MC | Complete |
| 6.1 Circulate free website created using AI tool for example |
AB | - |
| 6.2 Facilitate working group to progress with website provider. |
MC | Complete |
| 6.3 Working group to present recommendation via written procedure to Board. | Comms sub-group | Complete – built into governance framework |
| 7.1 Query PIP logo without postcode. | MC | Complete |
| 7.2 Partnership with Ryan for business engagement work |
MC | On receipt of contract from YTKO |
| 8.1 Distribute safety audit report | MC | Complete |
| 9.1 Consult with BDC conservation department on shop frontage issues |
MC | Complete |
| 9.2 Share HSRA vacancy register with Board (if appropriate) |
JB | - |
| 9.3 Share Worksop Masterplan | MC | Complete |
| 10.1 Pass on contacts to NS at VIA at NCC | MC | Complete |
| 10.2 Contact VIA and AWJBS to chase for cobble replacement quotes. |
MC | Complete |
| 10.3 Look into street cleaning from council responsibility and street furniture in storage. |
MC/CT | Complete |
| 11.1 Create sub-group for DWP youth group organisation |
MC | Ongoing |
| 11.2 Review vacant units for potential DWP youth group |
MC/AB/BL | Ongoing |
| Previous Actions | Undertaken By | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| 6.1 Circulate the LGF slides/briefing note and share the single assurance framework guidance with the minutes. | JB | RB to share with minutes |
| 7.1 Arrange meeting with Jaysika Dennis to confirm the Board’s decision and clarify the scope of works. |
MC | Wednesday, 29th July 2026 |
| 7.2 Apprenticeship recruitment urgently. | MC/AB | Complete |
| 7.3 Share the link for the website when live. | MC/RB | Wednesday, 29th July 2026 |
| 8.1 Distribute CoI forms and Code of Conduct forms | RB | Completed by RB |
| 8.2 Circulate the sub-group terms of reference. | MC/RB | Complete |
| 8.3 Map out clearer process for bringing pipeline projects/business cases to the Board. | - | TBC |
| 9.1 Share the survey report and any updates on The Ship. | MC | Ongoing |
| 10.1 Look into existing safety audits and feedback to Board. | MC | Ongoing |
| 10.2 Contact RS to ask for more specific, and tangible recommendations, including priority locations and design options. | MC | Complete but ongoing |
| 12.1 Circulate update of deep clean | RB/MC | With minutes |
| 15.1 Arrange meeting for discussion on capital investment. |
MC | 11 August 2026 |
Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
No updates.
AB noted that MP Jo White was appointed yesterday as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office. AB congratulated JW on the appointment.
Conflicts of interest
MC – COI events grant moderation because BDC have applied into the grant programme.
SG – NNBID have put in an application for an event grant.
Funding Update - Reporting and Capacity Funding
MC confirmed amount remaining from the current year spend is £341,553. So far spending has included; engagement RFQs £84,836.02, Management and Admin this year is £40,000, website is £2780 and domain renewal is £15.59. Also, room hire for meetings is £35.30. MC advised that a photographer had been appointed for the website at a cost of £300. The current remaining balance is £341,553. Further costs are still to be confirmed, including Facebook advertising, unit costs and potential wider marketing/comms support, such as an apprentice (to be discussed later in agenda).
Summary of the finance update:
Town Centre and Neighbourhoods Public Realm - £15,000 revenue funding has been spent on the town centre deep clean. The cobbles have been repaired and cleaned, and the final cleaning work was due to finish in the evening of 23/07. In addition, £26,539 capital funding has been used to purchase cleaning machinery, including equipment to clean benches and a Glutton machine. The intention is for the equipment to help maintain cleanliness in Worksop going forward. Following this spend, £63,461 remains in the relevant capital budget.
Events Programme - Business, Community and Young People - £65,000 in total and of this, £40,000 has already been allocated to the current events grant call-out, leaving £25,000. Update on events call later on the agenda.
Town Centre and Neighbourhood Community Safety -The deep clean cost £17,082, creating a slight overspend. Around £2,000 has been taken from the community safety budget to cover the additional cost. In addition, £5,000 has been allocated for the audit. Remaining balances are approximately £26,000 revenue and £90,000 capital in that budget area.
Bringing Back Empty Buildings Back into Use & Business Support - Grants are currently out for the business and business support programme. £2,400 remains from the £65,000 revenue budget because we are under budget on the Business Support spend. Two capital grants of £3,000 each have been allocated through business support. Some fit-out grants have also been allocated but were not yet shown in the figures discussed. In addition, 89K remains in capital budget.
There is a remaining £50,000 revenue in the skills and workforce budget which has not yet been allocated, and £60,000 in capital schemes also remains unallocate.
Local Growth Fund Update
JB provided an update on the Local Growth Fund (LGF), confirming that it is a devolved funding allocation from Government to the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA). The total allocation is £107m over the next four years to March 2030, split between £60m capital and £47m revenue funding. The funding is divided across five intervention areas: opportunity escalator, business growth and investment, innovation and cluster development, strategic investment, and thriving places. JB explained that the slides set out how the funding is broken down further and key priorities, including employment and skills, business support, innovation, strategic investment, town centres, rural economy, digital connectivity and community resilience.
JB confirmed there are clear synergies with Pride in Place, particularly around employment and skills and business support. It was noted that Nottingham City Council has been confirmed as accountable body for the economically inactive employment support, East Midlands Business Investment Fund and East Midlands Creative and Digital strands. NCC also referenced strategic authority commissioning for the export programme, local business support integration, business advice support and economic inactivity.
JB advised that there is currently no clarity on whether Pride in Place areas will be able to bid directly for funding, and nothing has yet been issued to constituent authorities. The Thriving Places element is still being worked through and is expected to be administered through constituent authorities.
Feasibility funding was also discussed, with the process and accountable route still to be confirmed. NS noted that further work is taking place to understand how feasibility funding and matching requirements will work.
SM advised that £3.4m of co-funding had been sought through LGF for four adaptive resilience projects across the East Midlands, including a Worksop waterfront resilience project to better protect homes, avoid flood damages and unlock sustainable regeneration. The bid was not considered to align with the current LGF funding criteria, although continued support has been expressed by the Mayor, EMCCA to fund this programme. SM confirmed the Environment Agency is continuing to work with the Bassetlaw Flood Partnership Group, NCC and local members to identify alternative funding and support. SM to keep Board updated.
CG advised that Nottingham City Council has already procured its share of the economic inactivity support. Also, the Jobs Guarantee national rollout, with bidders due to be notified on 1 September and delivery rollout from 1 November, providing around 2,200 paid work placements for 18–24 year olds across the EMCCA area (no specific amounts per place). CG further noted that DWP is mobilising for the main Restart replacement programme, with market engagement underway and procurement expected in the autumn. The programme is not expected to begin until January 2028 but will sit within the Pride in Place lifecycle, so alignment with LGF, Jobs Guarantee and future employment support programmes will be important. Board to consider how PIP could link in with these initiatives.
JB emphasised to the Board the importance of developing a pipeline of Worksop projects so that business cases are ready if funding becomes available.
AB agreed that the Board should be proactive in developing business cases and sought clarification on whether business cases would need to be submitted through EMCCA or constituent authorities.
The Board noted the need for ongoing communication between meetings as more LGF detail emerges, including how the available funding aligns with local priorities and the Worksop Together opportunity for community voice.
SS raised concerns about capacity and who will be responsible for carrying projects forward. JB confirmed that the Board needs to understand the scope of what is coming next, the associated timelines, which projects can realistically be delivered and what additional support will be needed. JB noted that further resource planning will be required by the next financial year. Resource is dependent on scope of upcoming projects.
Action: JB to circulate the LGF slides/briefing note and share the single assurance framework guidance with the minutes.
Communications and Website
MC updated the Board on options for wider communications support. MC had spoken with Jaysika Dennis, who was recommended by Inspire and could provide support one day per week at £250 per day. This would include wider communications activity such as website updates, PR, social media and content writing. Choose Purple had also been considered but was more expensive.
The Board agreed to proceed with spot purchasing communications support from Jaysika Dennis as required. The marketing and communications subgroup will provide direction, with MC acting as the main point of contact.
MC outlined the apprenticeship option, noting that the NTU course deadline is 19 August and that an apprentice would need to be employed by 22 September for the course start date of 23 September. The estimated cost is likely to be around £60,000 over three years if paid at an appropriate wage level, excluding equipment and any hosting or support costs. MC asked if someone from the Board would be willing to employ the apprentice.
AB declared a COI, noting that BCVS would be willing to employ a local person if the Board agreed to proceed.
The Board agreed in principle to proceed with the apprenticeship option and to pay at least the Real Living Wage. MC confirmed NTU can support shortlisting, although interviewing would need to be undertaken locally. AB declaring a COI as used to work for the NTU.
The Board agreed that the apprentice should be hosted by BCVS, with opportunities to spend time with partner organisations such as BPL, NNBID, BDC and others to gain wider experience of the programme and local partners. The Board noted that a reasonable administration/support cost for the hosting organisation should be allowed.
The marketing and comms subgroup will act as the delegated group for decision making with apprentice and Jayskia.
MC confirmed that the website should be available for the subgroup to review within the next couple of weeks, with further updates to be shared at or before the next Board meeting. Photographs have also been commissioned, and images from the street cleansing work were noted as useful for early communications.
Action: MC to contact Jaysika Dennis to confirm the Board’s decision and clarify the scope of support, including whether filming is included;
Action: MC/BCVS to progress apprenticeship recruitment urgently.
Action: MC to share the website when live.
Governance, meetings and sub-groups
MC updated the Board on governance arrangements for sub-groups, noting that full Board meetings are currently held every six to eight weeks and that decisions are sometimes required between meetings. MC has drafted terms of reference for the sub-groups, aligned to the existing Board terms of reference, to clarify delegated decision-making arrangements.
It was proposed that each sub-group should be chaired by a Board member, with clear representation and feedback into the full Board. Sub-groups may make decisions within agreed delegated limits, with any cost implications followed up by email to the Board to provide an audit trail.
The Board agreed that the wider terms of reference should be refreshed, conflict of interest forms should be updated, and Board representation on all sub-groups should be formalised. Additional Board members may still join sub-groups even where they are not the named Board representative.
Action: RB to distribute CoI forms and Code of Conduct forms.
AB highlighted the need for public-facing information explaining how residents and stakeholders can engage with the programme. It was also noted that sensitive working documents and public-facing documents are currently held across emails and the BDC website, creating a need for a more secure and streamlined approach to version control and document management.
MC also highlighted the need for a formal route for bringing future pipeline projects and business cases to the Board, including the use of business case or project initiation documentation.
Action: MC to circulate the sub-group terms of reference.
Action: Need for a clearer process for bringing pipeline projects/business cases to the Board.
Engagement and Events
AB declared a conflict of interest in relation to the community engagement work involving KW and GC. AB shared a video snapshot of recent engagement activity, noting that conversations are taking place across the community to understand local priorities and the types of events residents would like to see in Worksop.
It was reported that there were 92 survey responses at the time of the snapshot, BL updated to say 114 responses have now been received. The survey showed a good age spread to date, although further action will be taken to increase responses from young people during the next phase of engagement. The ethnicity profile was also considered a positive mix, and noted that the current gender profile is weighted towards women, which was noted as a common pattern in research participation.
Key findings from the events responses showed strong interest in music festivals and music events, alongside strong interest in food events. Other popular event themes included community and festive celebrations, arts and crafts, outdoor cinema, family fun days and children’s entertainment and film festivals. Heritage and history events were also highlighted, and a range of smaller and more niche event ideas were also suggested.
GC noted it was positive that some under-18s had already been involved in engagement through BCVS, particularly as engagement with schools is planned for September.
Feedback gathered at the Bassetlaw Multicultural Festival asked residents which empty building they would like to see brought back into public use to increase pride in place. The Ship and the Regal Cinema were the two buildings most frequently mentioned, with The Horn also featuring.
The Board discussed the strong local passion for bringing The Ship back into use. KW highlighted an example of a small venue being developed into a community music space and suggested that The Ship could potentially become a multi-purpose arts or music venue, MC advised that access for The Ship has been arranged. Surveyors scheduled for Wednesday 29th July. Once the survey report is available, further discussions can take place with Building Control and Mike Tagg to understand the state of the building, what may be feasible and the likely costs. MC confirmed can look at match funding from Historic England and potential to apply to Heritage Lottery.
The Board agreed to note the opportunity and community interest at this stage and to bring the matter back to the next Board meeting, or earlier by written procedure if required.
PJ raised the potential historical significance of the sub-cellar system beneath buildings on Bridge Street, asking whether the system starts at The Ship or The Lion. It was agreed that this should be checked with Mike Tagg, as it could add to the heritage case for The Ship if confirmed.
Action: MC to obtain and share the survey report on The Ship.
MC confirmed that the events grant programme had been oversubscribed and that the applications would be moderated on 23/07. MC asked whether the Board would be willing to use an additional funding from the remaining £25,000 events budget if all applications were to be awarded. BL was confirmed as the sub-group representative on the moderation panel. Following discussion, the Board agreed to approve up to an additional £5,000.
The Board also noted that the remaining events budget should be retained for potential larger-scale event opportunities, given the level of public interest in larger events.
Walk Around / Capital / Public Realm / Safety
MC updated the Board on the second public realm safety walk around undertaken with Richard Stone (RS). MC shared a report from RS with the Board.
The walk around focused on three priority areas: Dock Road and the canal side, where antisocial behaviour is regularly reported; Bridge Street and the top of the Market Square. The report identified potential quick wins including CCTV, lighting and women’s safety audits, alongside more physical interventions such as improving Dock Road, increasing visibility, improving lighting, and considering hostile vehicle mitigation measures or street furniture in public areas considering Martyn’s Law.
NS noted a potential conflict of interest in relation to VIA’s work on public realm maintenance. NS referenced green public realm and community ownership examples from Sheffield, as well as Severn Trent Water regeneration work in Mansfield, and suggested that litter reduction, wayfinding and space activation should also be considered as part of improving safety and perceptions of safety.
The Board discussed whether existing audits and evidence were already available, including CCTV audits, lighting audits, the women’s safety audit.
Action: MC to ask about existing audits and feedback to Board.
Action: MC to ask RS for more specific, and tangible recommendations, including priority locations and design options.
Business Support Review
No update.
Street Cleansing
MC confirmed deep clean has now finished.
Action: MC to circulate the video of the deep clean.
Skills and Employment
Some of the Board visit Mansfield Youth Hub to see how the programme is running there. More updates to be provided to Board in time.
Community Led Delivery
MC referred to learning from Grimsby, one of the 20 pilot areas, where a charitable model has been developed to support Pride in Place funding and community engagement. Discussion in previous meeting is for delivery to move from BDC towards a community-led body. The Board agreed to keep this under review and begin early conversations about the most appropriate model for Worksop.
Any Other Business
Board discussion need for a separate meeting for discussion on capital investment.
Action: MC to schedule meeting and send out invites.
Meeting Dates for 2026
18th September 10-12, Hybrid, The Bridge.
19th November 10-12, Hybrid, The Bridge.
Last Updated on Monday, August 10, 2026