Joint statement from Bassetlaw District Council, Broxtowe Borough Council, Gedling Borough Council, Mansfield District Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council and Nottingham City Council.
The statement reads:
‘We have seen statements and social media content from Nottinghamshire County Council, and Rushcliffe Borough Council on the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire LGR engagement exercise. There are a number of inaccuracies we feel we need to address.’
‘Councillor Barton has said the engagement was commissioned by Bassetlaw District Council in partnership with the city and ‘some’ Districts and Boroughs in the County, claiming the County Council was not involved. This is not true.’
’The engagement exercise was a jointly commissioned, independent exercise and paid for by all nine Councils. Nottinghamshire County Council was fully involved in the exercise, and indeed Councillor Barton chaired the meeting in which the approach was agreed. References on the County Council’s own website on 4 August and again on 22 August demonstrate their involvement. They also promoted the survey through their social media channels, as part of an agreed and collaborative approach.’
‘The majority of councils asked that the results from the independent report were published, in the interest of being open and transparent. On seeing the independent report, Nottinghamshire County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council, did not want it to be shared.’
‘Reorganisation isn’t something that the councils have asked for, but the Government has set extremely tight timescales that we need to meet. And we collectively agreed to do this in an open and transparent way.’
A spokesperson for the councils added:
“To be fair to all those who completed the survey, we believe the results should be available to them, in keeping with our agreed open and transparent approach to LGR in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. It was always envisaged the report would be published, and in our view, the public have the right to see it.
“We would like to reiterate that this was an independent process and report. Ultimately these are views given by members of the public, and we must hear those, consider them, and use them to shape our final proposals.
“We remain fully committed to collaborating across the region to ensure the best outcomes for local people.”
• Two in three people don’t want Nottinghamshire councils reorganised as ‘report released too early’
