Darley Dale Town Council consists of 10 councillors – local residents, who care passionately about the town. As volunteers they receive no salary or expenses.
As a forward-thinking council, we are keen to help make Darley Dale an even more enjoyable place to live, work and relax, by fostering a sense of community and providing practical support to community groups, businesses and schools.
Town Council Meetings
Council meetings, which residents are encouraged to attend, are normally held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
You can see the schedule on our calendar.
The Town Council also has several sub-committees and working groups to deal with specific issues, including planning, finance and the environment.
Darley Dale’s Annual Town Meeting is held in May each year. For the 2023 briefing document please click here.
Committees & Working Groups
We have two committees dealing with the specific issues of local planning and Council finance. Our Planning Committee meets on the third Monday of every month and has been particularly proactive in dealing with a number of significant developments across the town.
Our meetings are well attended and members have worked hard to create a sense of co-operation and consultation with Derbyshire Dales District Council planners and developers so that developments are appropriate and sustainable.
Anyone can join our working groups which meet periodically to address specific areas. Our Environment Working Group has been a great success running nature and sustainable energy events as well as Repair Cafés where local volunteers gave new life to items which might have previously been discarded.
We also have a Community, Events and Marketing Working Group to ensure that we work hand-in-hand with the local community, community and volunteer groups and provide and sponsor fun events throughout the year.
To see a list of the Committee and Working Group members, please click here.
We are also starting to run regular litter picks and are keen to get the community more involved in wildlife and wildflower projects, planting and tidying around the town, and offering practical help when there are problems with floods or snow.
If you want to get involved then we are keen to hear from you.
Contact the Town Clerk for more information.
Fairtrade Town
Darley Dale have been a Fairtrade town since 2008. This status is renewed by certification every 3 years by the acting Fairtrade Councillor/Fairtrade Steering Committee.
The aim is to raise awareness of Fairtrade, its purpose and function of providing financial and educational assistance towards helping poorer local farmers and producers from across the world such as Asia, South India and Ghana. Many of the foods we take for granted are grown and produced by around 2 million farmers in over 68 countries globally. The Fairtrade premium gives them a regular income so they receive fair pay for their hard work and produce.
Fairtrade support has helped villages to build schools and water treatment facilities amongst many other important improvements to lift the producers out of poverty.
Climate change is already affecting farmers and producers making it even more difficult to keep growing their produce.
Fairtrade producers work to sustainable organic standards. Look out for the Fairtrade logo when shopping in Darley Dale Co-op. It is clearly marked on items such as bananas, chocolate, coffee, wine and sugar.
Town Twinning
Darley Dale is twinned with Onzain, a small semi-rural town in the Loire Valley, France.
Onzain is a former commune in the French department of Loir-et-Cher, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire.
On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Veuzain-sur-Loire.
Onzain is also twinned Flein, Germany.
Click here to view the Darley Dale Twinning website.
