The Leader of Derbyshire County Council, Cllr Barry Lewis, has today met with the Labour Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council to discuss ways of working together following the latter's recent decision to withdraw from the Sheffield City Region mayoral arrangements.

One of the major talking points was the current arrangement which sees Chesterfield Borough Council hand over £1.2m per year to Sheffield City Region in business rates which are collected from the Markham Vale Growth Zone at junction 29A of the M1.

Derbyshire County Council owns the site, and have invested more than £40m into the £88m development to bring jobs to the region.

Cllr Lewis said: "We do not believe money paid by businesses based in Derbyshire should be going to the Sheffield City Region. We want every penny which is collected to benefit Chesterfield and Derbyshire businesses and I discussed this with Councillor Gilby.

"Before we meet again, we'll be drawing up proposals for the best way of keeping this money in the county so that it can be re-invested in Chesterfield and Derbyshire."