Broxtowe councillors 'say no' to city's latest merger plan

BUT CITY LEADER CALLS 'LAND GRAB' CLAIMS 'SCAREMONGERING'

- By LAUREN MONAGHAN Local Democracy Reporting Service

BROXTOWE councillors have backed a call to “say no” to a fresh council shakeup option that would see most of the borough joining the city of Nottingham.

Broxtowe Borough Council met in a full council meeting last Wednesday where its leader, Milan Radulovic (Brox Alliance) tabled a motion to object to Nottingham City Council’s fresh new council reshaping option which focuses on, what some councillors have called an “expanded city”.

The rejig of Nottinghamshire’s councils follows the Labour Government's English Devolution White Paper back in December 2024 which would see two-tier structures where responsibilities are split between an upper county council and district and borough councils - scrapped to create fewer new unitary authorities.

This two-tier model is seen across Nottinghamshire while Nottingham City Council is a unitary authority responsible for all services in the city boundary.

Various options for restructuring Nottinghamshire’s nine authorities have been looked at by leaders since early 2025 but two core options were most recently debated.

One combines Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling and the other combines Nottingham, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe with a second unitary covering the rest of the county in both options.