Four councillors reported for reorganisation 'inaccuracies'

CITY COUNCIL'S DEPUTY LEADER FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT THEIR STATEMENTS

- By JOE LOCKER Local democracy reporter

CONCERNS are growing that debates on a planned shakeup of council boundaries have been “misleading” the public.

The deputy leader of Nottingham City Council has now formally reported four councillors over their alleged breaches of the code of conduct when speaking on the topic at public meetings.

The move comes as all nine Nottinghamshire councils have been discussing and drafting plans to redraw boundaries, under the Government's proposals for local government reorganisation (LGR), announced last December.

At the moment, council services in the county are delivered by a two-tier structure. Nottinghamshire County Council oversees countywide services, including social care, education, and road maintenance, and several smaller district and borough councils take care of waste collection and leisure centres.

The city council is a unitary authority, providing all council services in the city.

Under the plans, all nine existing councils would be abolished to create new unitary councils. The Government hopes it will streamline services, prevent overlap and save money.

Councillor Ethan Radford, deputy leader of Labour-run city council, says discussions over the most significant shakeup in local government in 50 years have been marred by factual inaccuracies.

A frequent message doing the rounds is that the reorganisation is a “city council takeover” - when in fact the authority, as it is, would cease to exist, and elections for who sits on its replacement would be needed.

That is just one of several inaccuracies from public meetings, Councillor Radford said.