Each household in the Ripley Township* pay a proportion of Council Tax to Ripley Town Council. This enables us to do the following for our residents:
Ripley Town Council contributed £200,000 towards the community facility at Greenwich Recreation Ground on Nottingham Road in Ripley. This officially opened in March 2019.
Other than paying the salaries of our three part-time staff, the biggest 'routine' annual cost is for the Christmas lights around the town and some villages each year.
We have a town centre based office where members of the public are able to come in and talk to us about their concerns, ideas and wishes for the town. Within that office, we have a large window looking out onto Grosvenor Road which local groups, charities and organisations can use to advertise their events or use for a display, free of charge.
We distribute over £20,000 per year amongst local community groups and sports clubs to help support them.
This helps them develop and grow community-based activities in many areas, from Scouts and Guides to sports clubs, pensioner groups to village halls. We also support both Ripley Music Festival and Amber Sound FM, our community radio station.
We spend over £50,000 per year providing Youth activities throughtout the week at The Old Farm Bus in Marehay, the Youth Hub on Wednesdays at Greenwich Community Sports Hub on Nottingham Road in Ripley.
We meet with local traders and businesses to discuss how we can make Ripley prosper and attract more visitors to the town.
We fund the Citizens Advice Bureau Derbyshire District to provide its one day a week free advice session for local people at Ripley Library every Monday. Amongst other things, CAB has helped local people recover 100’s of 1,000s of pounds in benefits to which they were entitled. This has helped the individuals and their families, as well as local businesses!
We supply the litter bins along Ripley Greenway and at various locations throughout the township and pay for them to be emptied and the rubbish removed.
We organise many events throughout the year for local residents
in May
The Spring Market
in summer
Bands on Crossley Park throughout the summer
Christmas
Christmas Lights Switch On and the Christmas Market
This is a statutory requirement for authorities such as Ripley Town Council so we can let our residents know about Council decisions, news, events and details of how they can contact their local Councillor.
A really important role is for the Town Council to monitor the Planning Authority and how it implements – or tries not to implement - the Ripley Neighbourhood Plan.
We provide six Allotments within the Ripley Township where residents to grow their own produce. Each year, we organise the Best Kept Garden and Best Kept Allotment competition, where prizes are sponsored by Central England Co-op. We have established an Environmental Policy and developed a detailed Environmental Action Plan.
We have an annual Certificate of Merit Award, recognising the contribution a volunteer has made to our community.
All of our Councillors are volunteers - they do not receive expenses for being on Ripley Town Council.
