Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Jon Cooper
Chesterfield Borough Council has reached a new agreement for its popular annual Festival of Cricket with Derbyshire County Cricket Club to continue for yet another five years.
The council’s Cabinet approved the agreement at a meeting on April 28 involving Derbyshire County Cricket Club Ltd for the joint promotion and delivery of the annual Chesterfield Festival of Cricket, at Queen’s Park, off Markham Road, near Chesterfield town centre.
Cllr Gavin Baldauf-Good, Cabinet Member for Customers and Business Transformation, told the meeting he was ‘delighted’ to present a report with the details of the proposed agreement which he described as ‘a good news story’ for Chesterfield and the region.
He said: “If anybody who is my age remembers putting the television on as a small child you could watch cricket morning, afternoon and night but unfortunately now a lot of cricket is pay-per view so this is a great opportunity.”
The Chesterfield Festival of Cricket which has been running since the first agreement in October, 2005, will continue with men’s and women’s First Class County Championship, One-Day Cup and, or Twenty 20 cricket matches after the Cabinet approved the five-year agreement subject to a review after three years.
A council spokesperson stated: “With the exception of the odd season where bad weather has disrupted one or more festival cricket matches and the cancellation of the 2020 festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Chesterfield Festival of Cricket has become a staple fixture in the borough’s events calendar.
“The festival has gone from strength to strength and attracted sell-out crowds especially for Derbyshire Cricket Club Ltd’s Twenty 20 fixtures against Yorkshire County Cricket Club Ltd.”
Chesterfield Borough Council and Derbyshire County Cricket Club Ltd has hosted and promoted the event during three five-year contract agreements and they are to do so again under a new five-year agreement which will be subject to a review clause after three years.
During the term of the current agreement, the festival has also included for the first time first-class women’s cricket with matches featuring Derbyshire Falcons women’s side and The Blaze women’s side taking place in 2025.
Matches involving the same two women’s sides will also take place as part of the current 2026 Chesterfield Festival of Cricket.
Derbyshire Cricket Club has continued to express its satisfaction with the Chesterfield Festival of Cricket together with this year’s festival constituting the final season of the 2022-2026 agreement.
The cricket club has been very keen to enter into the new five-year licence agreement, according to the council, as the club values the Chesterfield Festival of Cricket and especially the role it plays in bringing first class county cricket to the north of Derbyshire where it has a strong membership base.
The latest agreement involves a new five-year licence agreement between the council and the club for the period 2027 through 2031 having taken into account the commercial imperatives and realities of moving the operation of what is a first-class professional sports organisation from its home ground in Derby to the Queen’s Park cricket ground, in Chesterfield.
Chesterfield Borough Council will grant the club permission to use Queen’s Park on at least five days in the months of June through September in each of the calendar years 2027 through 2031.
The licence also provides that the number of cricket matches may be increased by agreement but the number of cricket matches in each calendar year cannot be decreased.
Subject to financial matters and other considerations, the aim is for the five, six or seven days of first class county cricket planned over a week or nine days to continue to be known as the Chesterfield Festival of Cricket, in association with Chesterfield Borough Council.
The cost to the council has varied over the past 20 years according to the number of days of cricket, which rose to as many as 11 in 2010, and after negotiations of the financial terms at the renewal stages of each of the five-year licence agreements.
Among retained key terms of the current licence agreement the council will pay a direct grant to the club at a flat rate of £15,000 per annum in each of the years 2027 through to 2031.
In 2006, the direct grant paid to the club amounted to £18,000 with the Retail Prices Index applied every year through 2010.
In 2011, the council agreed to pay a fixed sum of £20,000 in each of the five years of the new licence agreement, however, this was negotiated down to £16,500 at the time of a three-year review in 2013.
In 2016, a further reduction in the direct grant paid to the club was negotiated to £15,000 per calendar year for the term of the licence agreement through 2020 and this level of direct grant payment per year was also retained when the current licence agreement was negotiated in 2022.
The council has sought to reduce the indirect costs to the authority over the past 20 years in consultation with the club by providing its own small marquees in place of rented mobile cabins for the media.
For the 2025 Chesterfield Festival of Cricket, the council’s budget estimates for the financial year 2025-26 allowed for the payment of £15,000 in direct grant to the club and a further £10,000 to cover indirect costs.
The outcome of the latest negotiations between the council and Derbyshire Cricket Club are that the terms of the current licence agreement be retained and included in the new licence agreement.
Provisions have also been made within the council’s Medium-Term Financial Plan to meet the annual costs of delivering the annual Chesterfield Festival of Cricket in each financial year through 2031-32.
Retained key terms of the current licence agreement also include the council and the club paying for elements of set-up and running costs.
Also a number of changes negotiated in 2016 with the club agreeing to pick up the full costs of the marquee and of the public address system, and to make a 50per cent contribution towards the provision of public toilets have also been retained.
The marquee is also to be reserved for part-council use to promote Destination Chesterfield and other similar initiatives on one of the days of the County Championship match each year at no cost to the council.
Derbyshire Cricket Club will provide food and beverage to the value of £1,000 and retain any profits made from ‘out-ground’ bar sales and spectator parking in Queen’s Park is to be limited to an agreed area with all takings to be retained by the club.
The club is to make available free of charge a minimum of 400 match tickets through local schools to promote and to encourage festival attendance by children, and it also aims to attend schools and provide coaching sessions for the school children and their supervisors.
The direct grant of £15,000 will cover the club’s costs of bringing fixtures from the County Cricket Ground at Derby to the Queen’s Park Cricket Ground and includes the costs of daily 24 hour site security for 10 or 11 days, the costs of bringing specialist equipment to prepare the cricket square, the transport of sponsorship boards, and the costs of compensating companies who hold bar and catering franchises at the County Cricket Ground during the festival.
Cllr Baldauf-Good added: “The Chesterfield Festival of Cricket directly supports delivery of Chesterfield Borough Council’s first two priorities of making Chesterfield a thriving borough and improving the quality of life of local people.”
He also pointed out that the festival will bring ‘monetary value’ to Chesterfield’s economy.
The council stated the Chesterfield Festival of Cricket also fits with the authority’s aims to strengthen the distinctive character and vibrancy of the borough’s town centres, and to enhance Chesterfield’s role as a visitor destination and as a base for exploring the surrounding area, and to support health and activity.
It added that away teams and supporters stay in serviced accommodation and there is strong evidence of increased customer footfall for town centre retail, leisure and hospitality businesses together with those at West Bars and along Chatsworth Road which has been particularly associated with attendances at the one-day cup and T20 cricket matches.
The council and club are also encouraging supporters to travel by train and for local supporters to cycle and by combining these efforts with a recycling strategy and assessments of the chemicals used for ground preparation they hope to mitigate the effects of climate change
Derbyshire Cricket also aims to provide tickets at concessionary rates.
The council stated that parking spaces are also to be set aside for disabled people for matches at Queen’s Park and all match day facilities are deemed to be fully accessible.
Cllr Kate Sarvent, Cabinet Member for Town Centres and Visitor Economy, told the meeting: “We are lucky we have got the only county cricket ground in walking distance of a town centre.
“Most are on the periphery so it’s bound to have an impact on our town centre because people can walk in.”
Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, said the festival will also provide networking opportunities for businesses and she hopes a representative from the East Midlands Combined County Authority will be able to attend.
She added: “It is great to be able to say we have got first class cricket around in our town.”
Deputy Leader, Cllr Amanda Serjeant, said one of the highlights of the festival will be the opportunity for boys and girls to attend who would otherwise perhaps not get a chance to experience high class sport.
The current 2026 Chesterfield Festival of Cricket, sponsored by BRM Solicitors, is to be held at Queen’s Park between June 19 to June 28.
