There has been a huge increase in the both the number of people listening and how long they listen for according to Peak FM‘s latest audience figures.

Listening hours, published by RAJAR, have shot up by 57% in just the last 3 months to 632,000 beating BBC Radio One in the region. Peak FM is the most listened to commercial radio station in North Derbyshire.

Tim Smith, Peak FM’s Content Controller is delighted: “Radio is a competitive industry but we love Chesterfield and North Derbyshire and our team love getting out and about. There are lots of stations to choose, some national, some regional but we’ve always prided ourselves on our doorstep.”

“This tremendous result is testament to the hard work of our journalists, producers and of course our presenters. Our Breakfast Show is quite fresh; Becky Hayes joined Ricky on the show just a couple of months back and in that short time they’ve been to all corners of North Derbyshire, given out prestigious awards, challenged Max George to the In My Feelings challenge and raised charity funds for the Sick Childrens Trust.”

“We’ve made our music mix a lot better with a blend of classic 80s and 90s as well as all the latest stuff, been nominated for a Sky News award for our journalism and with the release of these figures it’s so exciting to see more and more Chesterfield people switching us on! We really appreciate people doing that and sharing their news with us”.

Ricky and Becky hosting the Chesterfield Retail Awards 2018.

Derbyshire County Council is set to recruit a new team as part of a raft of measures designed to help people return home from hospital as quickly as possible, support independent care providers and give older people greater choice in their care. The proposed new in-house scheduling team would operate 7 days a week, organising the work of our care workers in the community who help older and disabled people live independently in their own homes.

Creating a new team is part of the Council’s wider plan to support the NHS’s move to 7-day working, continue its good work improving times in getting people home from hospital and preventing them being admitted to hospital.As well as being more responsive and flexible, the new scheduling system is designed to free up home care organisers so they have more time to review clients, observe staff and carry out risk assessments.

Councillor Jean Wharmby, Cabinet Member for Adult Care said: “The county council is committed to helping older and disabled people live independent, fulfilled and dignified lives by supporting them in their own homes for as long as possible.“By focusing our own in-house care teams on shorter term work, we’ll be helping to make sure people don’t have to stay in hospital longer than they need to or go into hospital unnecessarily.“But we can’t do this alone,” she said.

“We also rely on dozens of private, voluntary and independent sector care providers that carry out excellent work in Derbyshire helping people retain their independence.

“We need to work closely with them to create a stable and sustainable market to ensure local people have access to a choice of suitable, high-quality care.”

Derbyshire County Council is supporting the independent sector to take on longer term, more complex care. Their care teams will concentrate on short-term and reablement work, including hospital discharge assessments which are done in a person’s own home.

Councillor Wharmby added:

“With these measures we’re helping ensure the independent care market is on a more secure footing, which should give them confidence to expand.

“Supporting the independent sector alongside making our own systems more flexible is vital if we want people to have good quality care choices in the future.”

A variety of other measures are being used to increase care choices;

• pay a 7-day retainer to agencies if home care clients are admitted to hospital – retainers help agencies keep staff and speed up hospital discharges as placements remain open
• increase travel payments to help agencies pay staff travel time
• introduce ‘Red Bags’ for use by care home residents when they are admitted to hospital – they contain items needed for a stay, including personal details and medicines, are highly visible and help to ensure items do not go missing

Earlier this year the council also stopped bidding for long-term contracts although will still retain some care packages particularly in rural areas.

In 2017 staff carried out over 171,000 care visits. To increase responsiveness, extend services and improve demand management, the council is set to:

• recruit 21 business service assistants at grade 5 to schedule care appointments and 1.5 grade 7s to manage the team
• introduce a 2-shift pattern for members of the scheduling team to cover the hours of 7am to 10pm, including weekends
• subject to consultation with staff, introduce a new working pattern for DSOs (domiciliary service organisers), creating a 5 in 7 rota, to fully extend services to weekends

Councillor Wharmby said:

“Last year we had the lowest rate of delayed transfers of care (DToCs) of any shire county in the country, 3 months running.

“By working together with the wider care sector and our health partners, as well as changing the way we work, we will continue to help deliver the best outcomes for the people of Derbyshire.”

Funding for the new team has come from the Government’s IBCF (Improved Better Care Fund) and from savings made through vacancy controls.

Council tenants and people on the waiting list for council housing will have the opportunity to take part in a consultation on Chesterfield Borough Council’s housing allocations policy.

The consultation runs from Monday 13 August to Monday 24 September.

The aim of the new policy is to change the way in which the council allocates council homes to make the system fairer for tenants and potential tenants.

The proposed changes include:

• Changing the current requirement for a potential tenant to have been resident in the borough for 12 months. The current policy has resulted in an increase in the number of unoccupied one-bedroom flats
• Introducing a risk assessment before letting a property to check if the potential tenant can afford the rent
• Limiting the ability for existing tenants to re-register unless there are to changes in their personal circumstances
• Replacing the current points based system with a simplified banding system to  allocate homes
• Allowing pregnant applicants to request a separate bedroom for an as-yet unborn child
• Taking into account property or assets owned by applicants
• Bringing the policy into line with the council’s current policy on housing adaptations.

Councillor Helen Bagley, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for homes and customers, said: “We are committed to improving the quality of life for local people and the proposed changes to our housing allocations policy would make the system of allocating council homes fairer.

“I’d encourage all tenants and potential tenants to take part and have their say on the changes. All views will be taken into account before the council’s cabinet considers the policy in the autumn.”

All current tenants and people currently on the housing register will receive a questionnaire through the post.

The council will hold four drop-in sessions to offer more information and for people to ask questions, details of which can be found here.

To complete the survey online, visit www.chesterfield.gov.uk/allocations.

Chesterfield’s Amigos Team Parker racing ace Seb Perez returned to race track action last weekend after the Summer break in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship at Snetterton in Norfolk (28/29 July).

The 18 year old racer stormed to a Porsche ProAm double podium success over the weekend meaning to carry on where he left off at Oulton Park at the beginning of June.

Six weeks ago he travelled to Cheshire circuit with an impressive victory in race one in the Pro Am title, his third win of the season was complemented by yet another podium spot in race two, taking third place after an intense battle for the lead, meaning he left the Oulton Park just seven points shy of the championship lead.

He arrived at Snetterton to take the fastest ProAm time on Friday’s Free Practice session and battling through two tricky races on Sunday to score second place in both, ensuring the ProAm title is firmly within reach with just six races remaining this season.

A frantic Free Practice session in searing heat at the Norfolk track saw both Perez and his Nottinghamshire Team mate George Gamble on form from the very start  with Gamble third quickest and Perez taking second fastest ProAm.

Perez would pip Gamble in the second session of the day and take quickest ProAm in the process but neither Team Amigos driver could convert that to grid positions in qualifying on Saturday after having a struggling session.

Gamble would start the opening race on Sunday morning in fifth with Perez down in 11th and fifth ProAm.

Fantastic work and Set up changes by the Team Parker Racing outfit overnight on Perez’s Porsche  would address balance issues and a much cooler track, coupled with damp conditions and a late change onto wet tyres inspiring both drivers to push for the race one.

Snetterton’s three-mile-long circuit saw spins galore across the tightly weaved pack of 23 cars and Perez was aimiing high after his low start on the grid.

By the opening lap, he had moved into third ProAm driver and one of the closest battles of the race ensued. After making his way to second, a lunge passed Jamie Orton saw Perez take the lead and a thrilling duel to the flag began, with Perez only losing out on the final lap to take second by 0.199sec.

Drier conditions for race two saw battles just as close across the pack as they were in the  race one, Perez and Orton picked up where they left off in the first outing and a nose to tail battle over the 14 laps resumed.

Gamble would repeat his race one form to take sixth leaving Perez to look for another podium and that’s what he did, his second podium of the weekend, bagging essential points for both his ProAm and Rookie campaign.

“I’m really happy with the weekend,” said Perez on the final podium of the day.

He added: “It’s been a really close run thing in the ProAm category throughout the day so in terms of points, we have ensured that we’ve come away with a healthy haul.  I really enjoy the close racing like today and I think if we had a few more laps we could have taken Jamie (Orton) in race two so it shows the pace is where it needs to be. I’m certainly aiming for one step higher on the podium at Knockhill though”.

Perez leaves Snetterton in second place ProAm and second place Rookie driver behind team mate Gamble

Amigos Team Parker Racing retains its second place in the Team Championship as the season heads North in just under a months time at the Knockhill Racing Circuit near Dunfermline for rounds 11 and 12.

Editorial and Images by Paul Horton Motorsport Media and Photography

Long-standing sponsor Karen Child has agreed a new stand sponsorship deal with Chesterfield FC.

Karen, who previously sponsored the South Stand, is sponsoring the East Stand at the Proact Stadium, which will now be known as the Karen Child Community Stand.

Commercial Manager Jim Brown thanked Karen for her generous support. He said: “Karen’s backing is very much appreciated and I am delighted that she has agreed to sponsor a stand again.”

Karen, founder of The Child Foundation, which supports children and their families who require specific care, said: “I enjoy being involved with the club and I like helping the community so it made sense to put my name to the Community Stand. There’s a positive mood around the place and I’m looking forward to the new season!”