Nottinghamshire County Council will next week examine proposals to revisit the issue of local government re-organisation in the County.
The proposal, which was first talked about in 2018, would scrap all other local councils in the county except the city council which is unitary in its own right.
The Council’s Policy Committee will be asked to agree to write to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government seeking an invitation from him for all principal local authorities in Nottinghamshire to submit proposals for the establishment of a unitary structure. The report and proposed letter can be accessed at https://future.nottinghamshire.gov.uk
This move comes in the light of the developing Government policy on regional devolution to be outlined in the White Paper “Devolution and Local Recovery”, due to be published later this Autumn.
The White Paper is expected to require the establishment of unitary local government as a necessary pre-requisite for the establishment of Combined Authorities, which themselves will be a key means of unlocking and accessing future strategic investment in Nottinghamshire.
The report to be considered by members also outlines the financial and resilience challenges facing local government as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term impact on public finances and identifies that the development of unitary local government in Nottinghamshire offers a more financially efficient means of preserving and delivering effective public services and securing a sustainable recovery from COVID-19.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Mrs Kay Cutts MBE, said: “I believe that unitary local government for our great County will deliver better services that everyone will be able to access more easily; better value for money for every Council Taxpayer, and more prosperity for all. Government policy is certainly moving in that direction and recognises that to aid our recovery from the COVID pandemic, structural reform to unlock investment is vital.
“The current system of local government in Nottinghamshire is out-dated, cumbersome, wasteful and costly. We have a unique opportunity now to build a new way of delivering modern, integrated public services that works for every resident.”
