County council backs option to merge city with Gedling and Broxtowe

VOTE ON PREFERRED WAY FORWARD IN BOUNDARY SHAKE-UP

- By LAUREN MONAGHAN

The full council met on Tuesday to discuss the authority's core stance on the looming local government reorganisation.

The reshaping of councils, to have fewer, merged unitary authorities, is imminent.

And the Government has set a November deadline for councils all over the country to submit their preferred options for boundary shakeups in their areas.

In December last year, the Labour Government's English Devolution White Paper announced plans to reorganise areas - including Nottinghamshire -made up of two-tier local authorities in which responsibilities are split between county and district councils.

All nine of Nottinghamshire council leaders discussed three unitary options in March to form their submission to the Government.

Following this, interim feedback from the Government saw the original 500,000-resident target for new unitaries and boundary stipulations reduced. The core options then being weighed up by Nottinghamshire authorities were reduced to two - but that does not mean councils cannot submit alternative options by the November deadline.

One option combines Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling and the second combines Nottingham, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe. A secondary unitary containing the remainder of the county is featured in both options.