The future of Belper’s Ada Belfield Centre was discussed at my meeting with Derbyshire County Council’s Reform UK cabinet members this afternoon.
It was a productive meeting, and I am grateful to the councillors for their time.
The councillors told me the whole Ada Belfield site will be leased to a private provider. The private provider, once selected, will run the care home.
I sought assurances that the café, library, and toilets will remain open to the public. I am grateful the councillors confirmed that would be the case.
I am disappointed that important local services are no longer in public hands, and that they will be run for profit.
However, I continue to engage with Derbyshire County Council’s Reform leadership to make the case that local people must receive the same standards of service they had when all these services were run directly by the council.