‘Whatever the city wants, the city will get’: County fears over shake-up of local government

PREFERRED OPTION ‘WILL BE THROWN IN THE BIN’

- By LAUREN MONAGHAN Local democracy reporter

THERE are concerns that the county council's preference for Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling to merge in an upcoming shakeup of local authorities will be ditched to make way for the city council's potential alternative plans.

In a meeting this week, Nottinghamshire County Council solidified its stance on the incoming reorganisation of councils, backing a merger of Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling.

The Government announced its plans in December to redraw English councils to create more “strategic” unitary authorities.

This would see areas with two-tier systems, such as Nottinghamshire, where council functions are split between the county council and district and borough councils, redrawn to create fewer unitary authorities.

The nine council leaders across the county have been deliberating options since February but these were whittled down to two core options in recent months.

The two options involve a unitary authority of Nottingham city being merged with either Broxtowe and Gedling or Broxtowe and Rushcliffe, with a second unitary combining the rest of the county in both options.

The county council prefers the Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling merger. But one councillor believes this will be thrown out in favour of the city council’s preference.

In July, Broxtowe Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic (Brox Alliance) alluded to the city council's alternative preference of its city boundary expanding into parts of boroughs, rather than merging with entire boroughs.