Chesterfield Borough Council has decided which Local Enterprise Partnership it will stay a member of following the government's insistence all councils must not belong to more than one.

The council said it will stay a member of the Derby Derbyshire Nottingham Nottinghamshire (D2N2) LEP and will relinquish its membership of Sheffield City Region (SCR) LEP.

The council said it had been forced to make the decision despite the benefits of belonging to both LEPs such as securing £60m of external funding since 2013.

Whitehall has warned councils they will face financial consequences for failing to comply with the demand, such as reducing the value of post-Brexit funding allocations.

Cllr Tricia Gilby, leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: 'This is a decision that I neither take lightly nor is it a decision that I believe is necessary. But there is no option if we are to comply with the Government’s requirement for Chesterfield’s businesses and communities to in future be represented by a single LEP.'

The council will remain a non-constituent member of the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority.

Cllr Gilby added: 'Whilst our LEP membership will remain with D2N2, Chesterfield Borough Council will continue to maintain an active interest in SCR through its non-constituent membership of the Mayoral Combined Authority. This is viewed as essential to ensure the future alignment of D2N2’s and SCR’s key strategies on critical cross-boundary matters such as HS2 and strategic road networks.'

Photo: © Andrew Hill