Paper petition details

Council response

Chesterfield Borough Council
Town Hall, Rose Hill
Chesterfield
Derbyshire S40 1LP

e-mail: donna.reddish@chesterfield.gov.uk

29 July, 2020

Dear Mr. Ward,

I refer to your petition submitted to the Council 15 July 2020. The petition included 550 signatures, 292 of whom are Chesterfield Borough residents. I can confirm that the Council has considered the petition in accordance with its Petitions Scheme and the following response is provided below to the issues raised.

The petition asked the Council to:

“Ask the people of Chesterfield before anything gets renamed or removed.
“Allow the people of Chesterfield to decide via a poll any changes that are being considered for memorials, statues and roads. Councillors should not be allowed to take the decision without consultation of everyone in the area.”

Monuments, statues and plaques

A review of monuments, statues and plaques on public land have been completed. These commemorations have local historical connections including with the mining industry and railway engineering. There are also a number of first and second world war memorials. There are no proposals to remove any of these commemorations.

Street/ Road names

The council has received a number of representations about street names and has started to look into this. This is a more challenging task as there are many street names in the borough. Research is needed to identify why particular names were chosen and their historical context. Following this review, if any street names require further consideration the Public Health Act 1925 includes provisions for street naming and street re-naming. However, there is a lengthy and detailed legal process to complete.
A key part of the process includes statutory consultation with residents and businesses on the street or road. Any street name change would affect residents and businesses in lots of different ways where a property address is used. A number of statutory bodies would also need to be consulted including the Highways Authority, Derbyshire County Council.
Key information including the consultation responses would then need to be considered by Chesterfield Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Growth for a decision to be taken on any change to a particular street name. Residents have a right of appeal to the Magistrates Court.
Wider consultation
Plans are currently being developed to launch a public consultation regarding potential future commemorations later in the year.

Publication of Response to Petition

This response will be published on the Council’s website but your personal details will not be disclosed.

Right of Appeal on How Petition Dealt With

You have a right of appeal to the Council’s Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee if you feel that your petition has not been dealt with properly.

If you do appeal, the Scrutiny Committee must then review the steps that the Council has taken to deal with the petition but it has no power to override the original decision; however, it can make a recommendation to Council or Cabinet or an individual member as appropriate. If you wish to appeal you must do so in writing or by email (and include your grounds for believing that your petition has not been dealt with properly) within 15 working days from the date of this letter and address it to:

Brian Offiler
Democratic and Scrutiny Officer
Chesterfield Borough Council
Town Hall
Rose Hill
Chesterfield S40 1LP

e-mail: brian.offiler@chesterfield.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Donna Reddish
Assistant Director Policy and Communications