Nottinghamshire County Council backs a Nottingham city merger with districts and boroughs is the best option for an incoming council shake-up – months after the previous administration rejected a city expansion.
Today Nottinghamshire county councillors voted in favour of Option 1b for local government reorganisation which will see one unitary authority covering Broxtowe, Gedling and Nottingham City, and another covering Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe.
Nottinghamshire County Council met today (Tuesday, September 2) in a full council meeting to discuss the authority’s core stance on looming local government reorganisation.
The re-shaping of Nottinghamshire councils, to have fewer, merged unitary authorities, is incoming. The government has set a November deadline for councils across the country to submit their preferred option for boundary shake-ups in their areas.
In December 2024, the Labour Government’s English Devolution White Paper announced plans to reorganise areas made up of two-tier local authorities – including Nottinghamshire – where responsibilities are currently split between county and district councils.
All nine of Nottinghamshire leaders discussed three unitary options back in March 2025 to form a government submission. Following this, interim feedback from the government saw the original 500,000-resident target for new unitaries and boundary stipulations lessened.
The core options then being weighed up by Nottinghamshire authorities reduced to two – but this does not mean councils cannot submit alternative options by the November deadline.
One option combines Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling whereas the second combines Nottingham, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe. A secondary unitary containing the remainder of the county is featured in both options.
Today’s meeting saw county council leader, Mick Barton (Ref) calling on the authority to back the reorganisation option that would see Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling merged as one unitary and the rest of the county falling under the second unitary.
This comes months after the previous Conservative administration backed a county-only, or ‘donut’, option for reorganisation in a March full council meeting.
The Conservative group at the council tabled an amendment to the chamber today, asking councillors to back this earlier re-shaping option – the ‘donut’ option – which would see the current Nottinghamshire County Council area form one unitary and the current Nottingham City Council boundary form the other.
Councillor Sam Smith (Con), leader of the opposition group, said the option was “financially sound” and was projected to save £27 million a year through efficiencies, would save £8 million straight away by “avoiding the cost of reorganisation” and avoid a potential seven per cent increase in council tax for Broxtowe and Gedling residents.
Responding to the amendment, Cllr Penny Gowland (Lab) said the nature of it was “talking down our [Nottingham] city”.
She said: “The City [Council’s] finances – there’s a lot of lies told about this. Yes, it has a higher band D council tax rate than Rushcliffe, but the average council tax take per household is less because it’s mostly band B houses – it’s a poorer area.”
Merging with Nottingham city has faced some rejection in Broxtowe and Gedling by councillors and residents, with online petitions circulating calling for no city ‘expansion’ into these areas.
Cllr James Walker-Gurley (Ref), who represents Eastwood in Broxtowe, said: “This is not about selling out our communities and handing them over to Nottingham city, because we all know the City Council as it exists today will no longer exist under reorganisation – that narrative is false and misleading to the public.”
Cllr Kelvin Wright (Ref) said he “felt for his colleagues” who felt conflicted over which way they should vote but said the county-only option did not support the council’s function of providing adult social care.
He said: “The [county-only] option has been extensively worked up by the officers does not support a workable model of adult social care, quite simply, therefore, it does not work for the residents.”
Councillors across parties referenced how the government will ‘impose’ boundary shake-ups if agreed upon options are not submitted by authorities.
Cllr Teresa Cullen (Brox Alliance) said this meant “we must choose from a bad choice to avoid a bad choice being imposed on us”.
The amendment was voted down and the original motion led by the leader – backing a Nottingham City, Broxtowe and Gedling merge – was passed with 43 votes for, 11 against and one abstention.
Cllr Barton said: “I have taken advice and looked at all the other evidence provided by officers, leaders and the PwC.”
The leader added the other options do not work with the government’s guidelines of re-shaping councils, saying they “would not be accepted” by government ministers.
One Reform councillor for Arnold North, John Semens, voted against his leader’s advice on the grounds his campaign in May’s County Council election focused primarily on resisting city merger options.
